Word of Salvation – Vol. 34 No. 33 – September 1989

 

The Lord’s Supper

(A Reminder And Assurance Of What Christ Has Done)

 

Sermon by Rev. M. P. Geluk on Lord’s Day 28

Reading: Luke 22:7-30; Revelation 19:6-9

 

The Lord has given two sacraments to His church Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  By means of these sacraments the Holy Spirit strengthens the faith of God’s people.  We have already considered the meaning and purpose of baptism.  It now remains for us to look at the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper.

A quick glance at Lord’s Days 26 and 28 will reveal that both handle their subject matter in an almost identical manner.  The three questions and answers of each Lord’s Day are practically parallel.  Could we not, therefore repeat in Lord’s Day 28 what was said in Lord’s Day 26 and just substitute baptism for Lord’s Supper?  Indeed, one of the arguments sometimes used in favour of children participating in the Lord’s Supper is that they have already received baptism.  And since the Lord’s Supper like baptism, is there to strengthen faith, why exclude children from this second sacrament?

We will have to come back to covenant children and the Lord’s Supper when we deal with Lord’s Day 30.  But already here we should know that whilst there are similarities between the two sacraments, there are also important differences.  In baptism the infant children of believing parents are passive.  They are being carried to the font to receive baptism without their knowing.  They have no say in it.  With the Lord’s Supper, however, the participants are active and must be aware of what they are doing.  There is no requirement that their parents have faith, as with baptism, but that they themselves have faith.  Our baptism tells us that we belong to God.  In the Lord’s Supper we actively enjoy that belonging and personally confess it to be true.  Our participation in the Lord’s Supper is really an “Amen: (so shall it be)” to our baptism.  Calvin said that in baptism God tells us that He has taken us into His household, and then as a good Father who cares for His own, He spiritually feeds us with Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.  Baptism seals membership in God’s covenant of grace; the Lord’s Supper seals our growth as living members of that covenant.  Baptism needs to take place only once, but we repeatedly celebrate the Lord’s Supper in order to grow in faith, hope and love.

In the Scripture this second sacrament is called the Lord’s Supper (1Cor.11:20).  A supper suggests a meal of course.  The Lord’s Supper is a meal wherein the Lord and His people eat and drink together.  But it is not an ordinary eating and drinking.  In the Bible several things are said about this Supper that makes it special.  Lord’s Day 28 refers to some of these biblical teachings which can be summarised as follows: In the Lord’s Supper, God’s Spirit gives us a reminder and an assurance of what Christ has done for His own.

In the first place we see that the Word of God speaks of the Lord’s Supper as a memorial meal.  Something is remembered.  We have memorial dinners to remember an anniversary.  Relatives and friends are called together and we eat and drink and commemorate a past event.  The Jews at a certain time each year also remembered a great event in their history.  They were, in fact, commanded by God to do this!  It was the Passover meal.  With this meal they remembered the night when they were led out of Egypt, out of slavery, by God’s mighty arm.  All the Israelites at that time were instructed to smear the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their house.  When the angel of death came by to strike dead all the first born of men and beast, and saw the blood, then he would pass by – or pass over – that house.  Thus the Israelites were spared and the Egyptians punished.  That night God’s covenant people of old were led out of bondage into freedom.  Each year, thereafter, they were to remember this mighty act of salvation by God in their Passover meal.

Thus it came about that Christ and the disciples were having the Passover meal, at the same time that all other Israelites were doing this.  But it became a very significant night for Christ, for this was also the night that He was betrayed to death.  In God’s plan of salvation this was the night which was the beginning of a series of events which culminated with Christ dying on the cross.  In order to set His people free from slavery to sin, God offered His only Son up to death.  The divine punishment of death did not pass over Christ.  And the Lord, knowing all this willingly accepted it, for He loved His own.  He set these salvation events into motion when, after the Passover meal, He took some bread broke it, and gave some to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat; this is my body” (Matt.26:26).

At this particular Passover meal Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper.  From the normal food people had for their meals in those days, Jesus took some bread and wine and said to His disciples that as often as believers celebrated the Lord’s Supper, they had to remember Jesus’ death.  No longer the deliverance out of slavery from Egypt, as in the Passover meal, but the deliverance from sin through Jesus’ broken body and shed blood on the cross.  He said, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19).

When we, therefore, in the Lord’s Supper see the bread broken and the wine poured out, and hear the words “This is my body” and “This is my blood”, then we very clearly remember Jesus’ death on the cross for sinners.  Whenever we have the Lord’s Supper we remember that the death of Christ brought us life and peace with God.  The Lord does not want His death and the purpose of it forgotten.  And by remembering, our faith is strengthened, knowing that we are forgiven of our sin.

In the second place we see that the Word of God speaks of the Lord’s Supper as a thanksgiving meal.  In writing about the Lord’s Supper to the church of Corinth, Paul speaks of “the cup of thanksgiving” (1Cor.10:16).  The Lord’s Supper is not a meal of sadness and gloom but of thanksgiving!  With our participation we say thanks to God for delivering us from death and hell through Christ’s death.  The cross, for Christian believers, is a symbol of acceptance by God and deliverance from the power of sin.  Although the cross points to death, for God’s people it means victory over death.  The Lord’s Supper points to the cross of Christ.  He gave His body and shed His blood on the cross, so that we may live forever.  This meal, during which we eat bread and drink wine to remember that the sacrificial death of Christ, is for us a thanksgiving meal.  We praise God for the salvation blessings received.

Thirdly, we see that God’s Word speaks of the Lord’s Supper as a covenant meal.  Not only was the cup spoken of as the “cup of thanksgiving” but also as “the cup of the new covenant in Jesus’s blood” (1Cor.11:25).  Matthew’s Gospel says that when Jesus took the cup and offered it to the disciples inviting them to drink from it, He then said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt.26:38).

What did Jesus mean by speaking of the cup as “the blood of the covenant”?  Well, in the Lord’s Supper, God and His covenant people are sharing together in the one meal.  Christ gives the blessings that flow from His death on the cross and the members of His covenant receive these from His hands.  The Passover meal also had a covenant setting.  It was Israel whom God had delivered from Egypt.  They were His chosen people and God had promised to be God to them.  At every Passover meal the Israelites were reminded that God was their God, bound to them in covenant faithfulness.  So also in the Lord’s Supper.  In this meal God says very clearly you are mine.  I am your God and you are my people.  And because I have made you my people in Christ, I will spiritually feed you and nourish you.  As you receive this bread and wine, so I will with my Holy Spirit strengthen and renew your faith in what I am doing for you in Christ.  His body and blood were given for you.  You may believe that through Jesus’ death you are forgiven, cleansed and made new.

To be the covenant partner of God is a great privilege.  God is not inviting just anyone to share a meal with Him.  Who could sit with God who is altogether pure and holy?  But how then can we eat and drink with God?  We are sinful too.  Yes, we do not come to the table of the Lord in our own goodness and virtue.  God in His sovereign grace has called sinners out of darkness and cleansed them in Christ.  We come by invitation only.  Why God has invited some and not others we do not know.  In a sense all sinners are invited and that invitation is sincere and genuine.  The call to repentance and faith goes out to all people.  Yet, only those whom God in His sovereign choice draws to Himself, will come.  That’s why sitting at table with God is a privilege.  It’s to hear God say that out of all the people of the world He has made us His very own.  “I will be your God and you shall be my people.  I will come to you each time with my Word and Holy Spirit and work faith in you, to help you trust me.”  As the body feeds on ordinary bread and satisfies itself with drinking, so also will you be kept spiritually alive and healthy by feeding on the body and blood of Christ.  For He is food to your souls.

But if we are covenant partners with God, then it must be remembered that we have responsibilities too.  If the most High God invites us to the table of His Son Jesus Christ, then we better make sure we honour and respect Him by coming with sincere hearts and looking to Him in faith and trust.  It would be a deep insult if we took part in this covenant meal with indifference and hypocrisy.  In the Old Testament we read many times how God was displeased and righteously angry when Israel, His partner, accepted God’s privileges whilst their hearts were serving other Gods who were false and demanded wicked and sinful actions.

When you are invited to a wedding and may share the first meal with the bride and bridegroom, then you make sure you are suitably dressed.  It would be a terrible insult to them if you came without bothering to look your best.  In the covenant of grace God has made us new in Christ and we would insult Him deeply if we did not bother to honour Him with obedient and holy lives.  It is for this reason too that God’s Word reminds us to come in a worthy manner and to examine ourselves beforehand.  The Lord’s Supper as a covenant meal is not just having some fish and chips with a mate.  It is eating and drinking with Christ who gave His body and blood for our salvation.

Fourthly, the Lord’s Supper is a continuous meal.  God’s Word says, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death…!” (1Cor.11:26).  The sacrament of baptism occurs only once.  It signifies entry into the covenant and church of God.  But the Lord’s Supper is repeated many times, for God’s people need continued nourishment.  Christians have to live their lives of faith in the world.  In that world are temptations, conflicts and tensions.  Satan seeks to pull us away from God and often our own sinful natures block the way to a pure and wholehearted devotion and service to God.  Our spiritual strength runs out of steam and we can become weary in well-doing.  But all that is understandable.  Our bodies also become weary with exhaustion and we grow hungry for food.  So to be refreshed spiritually we need to be replenished with spiritual food.  We celebrate the Lord’s Supper often, for we regularly need to be made strong in the faith.  We need to be reminded that our worthiness before God is not in ourselves but in Christ, so we need His sustenance, His energy and vigour.

But as we continually return to the Lord’s Table, we must come in faith.  Our frequent participation must be a proclaiming of Christ’s death.  If coming to the Lord’s Supper is a mere routine to us, like putting on our socks and shoes then we do not come in faith.  We must think before we partake.  We must turn our thoughts to Christ’s death for sinners and then realize that we need this bread and wine in order to continue to live in the strength of our Saviour.  He is the Bridegroom and the Church His Bride.  In the frequent meals together, Christ comes and pulls us close to Himself like a lover embracing His beloved, so that His Spirit, rules in us as it does in Him.  Jesus Christ lives, and we have a living relationship with Him.  We meet intimately at His table and He nourishes us with His renewing powers.

From this it follows that the Lord’s Supper is also a fellowship meal.  This is the fifth observation we make about the Lord’s Supper.  In this meal we have communion with Christ and with one another.  We share the precious blessings of Christ together.  Christ in us and we in Christ, that is the common thing among us.  Different in character, culture, race or background, yet we have a oneness in Christ.  It is for this reason that the Lord’s Supper is often called Holy Communion.  It is a participatory meal with Christ and other believers.  We who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread and drink from the one cup.  (1Cor.10:17).

We no longer seem to do it much but in years gone by the elders of the church used to carry the bread and wine to the sick so that they too could join in this fellowship meal.  Unable to come to where the Lord’s Supper was held, part of the church went to the sick and held the Lord’s Supper where they were.  It meant to say, ‘You too belong to Christ and to the Body.  You are part of the fellowship.”

Unfortunately, superstition sometimes crept in and the Lord’s Supper was wrongly seen a means to make you right with God.

Then finally, God’s Word speaks of the Lord’s Supper as a meal for the future.  The Lord hinted at this when He said to the disciples, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matt.26:25).  And with the bread Jesus said, “I will not eat of it again until it finds fulfilment in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:16).

The Lord instituted the Supper and He himself partook of the bread and the fruit of the vine just that once.  For shortly after He went to the cross, rose again and ascended to heaven.  Even in the forty days between His rising from the dead and His going to the Father, the Lord did not again celebrate the Lord’s Supper with His disciples.  But the church is to continue to have this meal “until he comes” (1Cor.11:26).  When He comes then the Lord will eat and drink again with His church.

We must not think of our Lord’s Suppers in the present as meals without Christ.  He is very much present with us through His Word and Spirit.  We have communion with Him as well as with each other.  But in a sense our Lord’s Suppers are incomplete.  They belong to the time in between the first and second comings of Christ.  And that is a time wherein the kingdom of God has come on earth, but not fully.  It is a time in which the church looks at the death of Christ and remembers the victory He has won over sin and death.

But is also a time in which the church is to preach the Gospel and all the elect of God are to be gathered in and all these must have Lord’s Suppers in order to have their faith strengthened.  In the Lord’s Suppers of the present we look to the future when God will be all in all, when there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Rev.21:4).  Then the kingdom of God will be fully upon us.  The Lord Jesus said, referring to that time, “And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Luke 22:29, 30).  It is impossible for us now to know precisely the nature and character of the Lord’s Supper after Jesus has returned to establish His kingdom in full.  But it will be different and more beautiful than we can now imagine.  Now we see our Lord in the broken bread and poured out wine.  They point to His death on the cross.  But then on the new heaven and new earth we shall see our Saviour as the Lamb that was slain but glorious and powerful for evermore.  We shall be part of that great multitude and shouting, “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.  Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.  Fine linen, bright and clean was given her to wear.  (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)  Then the angel said to me (John), ‘Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’” (Rev.19:6-9).

The Lord’s Supper we have here points us to that future meal, the wedding supper of the Lamb.  Then our faith will be made perfect and our hope will become sight.

And so we have seen how the Word of God speaks of the Lord’s Supper as a memorial meal, a thanksgiving meal, a covenant meal, a continuing meal, and a fellowship meal.  But it all points to the future, to the eternal wedding supper with the Lamb. `When the church here on earth invites you to participate in the Lord’s Supper because you are known as one in whom the Spirit of God dwells and Christ’s righteousness has done its work, making you an obedient, loving child of God, then you may know that you are also invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.

Here we still wrestle with sin, doubts and shortcomings, but if in repentance and faith we turn time and again to Christ, and feed on Him in the Lord’s Supper, then not only is there room for you at the Lord’s table now but also at the great banquet in God’s kingdom.

AMEN