Celebrating Communion Biblically

PDF

Last week, we began to examine the second of our church’s distinctives, A High View of Scripture. We are going to step away from that for today but what we are going to deal with is connected because a high view of Scripture demands that we include only the biblically prescribed elements in our corporate worship. In other words, we don’t get to decide what we include when we gather together. The Scriptures tell us what to include. And two of those prescribed elements are the two ordinances that Jesus Christ our Lord gave His church: two ceremonies that He commanded us. The first of those is something that happens only once in your life—it’s baptism. After you repent and believe in Jesus you are immersed in water as a confession that the person you used to be died and you have been raised to new life in Jesus Christ. 

The second of those ceremonies is the Lord’s table or communion which is to be a regular part of the Christian’s life. It is not too surprising when you think about it, Old Testament believers were surrounded by ceremonies. There were seven annual festivals, thirteen new moon festivals and twelve hundred annual national sacrifices that reminded God’s people of spiritual realities. 

We have just two. 

In preparation for taking the Lord’s table together this morning, I want to return to 1 Corinthians 11 that we just read together a moment ago in our Scripture reading to this wonderful text which fills our understanding of one of only two sacred New Testament ceremonies that our Lord commanded of us.

Now, in 1 Corinthians 11 Paul wrote to correct several problems in the Corinthian church in the first century. But in so doing, he also provides us with a thorough framework for understanding this ordinance. In the passage that we just read, 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 23 to 26, we discovered that the Lord’s Table is a crucial part of the corporate worship of the church, an ordinance that Christ Himself gave and every follower of Jesus Christ must understand what it means and how it is to be celebrated. Let’s look at it together.

In this passage, we are going to see three key insights that help us celebrate communion biblically. Let’s look at them together. The first insight that Paul gives us here concerns the institution of the Lord’s table. The institution, or we could say the origination, the start, the beginning of the Lord’s table. Paul begins describing this by first assuring us that what he is about to write is an inspired record. This event that we call the Lord’s table—its origination is recorded in four places in the New Testament: here in 1 Corinthians 11; in Matthew 26; in Mark 14; and in Luke 22. But this one here may have been the first that was written. This book was written around the year AD 54-55. It’s possibly the first recorded record of Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s table. About 25 years after our Lord instituted this ordinance in AD 30, Paul under inspiration writes this inspired account. And he wants us to know that, look how he begins in verse 23, “For I received from the Lord.” As you know, Paul wasn’t one of the original twelve apostles. He was later selected by Christ in Acts chapter 9 and affirmed by the other apostles in Galatians chapter 1. But he wasn’t there on the night our Lord instituted this and so he instead says, “I received direct instruction about this from the Lord Himself.” Verse 23, he goes on to say, “and it’s that which I also delivered to you.” Paul had instructed the Corinthians about this ordinance several years before while he was with them for about 18 months ministering in that church. But now under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he puts this account of the historical event of the institution of the Lord Supper in writing. 

Let’s look then at the historical event itself, verse 23, “the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed.” Notice that Paul links this ordinance with history. You see, Jesus Christ was a real person. People who live in America sometimes can think that He is some sort of mythological figure. Visit Israel and you will never believe that again. Nobody there believes Jesus was a myth or a legend. He lived 2,000 years ago. You can visit the places where He was. They may not believe His claims, but nobody is saying He didn’t live. And this event is tied to a specific event in His life: the night in which He was betrayed. That was Thursday of the Passion Week. He would die on Friday. It was then that He “took bread,” verse 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.’” 

Now, Matthew tells us that this happened on that Thursday night while Jesus and His disciples were eating the normal Passover Seder—the normal Passover meal that is still celebrated by Jews today. They were taking it on that Thursday night. While they were eating the Passover meal, Jesus took some of the unleavened bread that was part of the Passover Seder and He took the wine, and He points them to a new purpose. Notice, first of all, in verse 23, He took unleavened bread. He gave thanks. He broke it and then He explained what He meant by this, and we will consider that in just a moment. But look at verse 25, “In the same way He took the cup also after supper.” Wine was and is an integral part of the Passover Seder. They drink from the cup and did then as well four times. Four drinks from the same cup of wine during the Passover meal. Why four? Because it corresponded to the four promises that God made Israel in Exodus chapter 6 verses 6 through 7. Each one of the four promises there corresponded to the four cups. We know where this falls in the meal. This would have been the third cup. And the third cup is called the “cup of blessing” or the “cup of redemption.” And it corresponds to the third promise in Exodus 6 verses 6 and 7, and it is this: “I will also redeem you.” That’s the cup He took. Verse 25, “In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’” 

Jesus took two parts, two elements, from the Passover Seder, the reminder of the physical redemption of Israel from the slavery in Egypt, and He turned them into an entirely different kind of remembrance. Now these elements, the unleavened bread and the cup, are to remind His followers not of a physical rescue from Egypt but of a spiritual rescue from their sins and from the wrath of God against their sins. That is the historical event.

Now, notice the physical elements, you saw them here, they are obvious, the first one is bread. The bread in the Passover Seder is unleavened. You go back to the book of Exodus and discover that that was to commemorate that Israel had to leave Egypt in a hurry. They didn’t have time to let the yeast rise in their bread, so they fixed unleavened bread. The New Testament doesn’t demand unleavened bread in the celebration of the Lord’s table, but it does best symbolize that Jesus was without sin and therefore we use unleavened bread in our celebration. But it is not biblically demanded. 

The other physical element you will notice is simply called “the cup.” As I mentioned this was the third in a series of four prescribed cups of wine in the Passover celebration. It is interesting that none of the four accounts of the Lord’s table is the cup called “wine.” It is just called “the cup” or on a couple of occasions it is called “the fruit of the vine.” Apparently, it is not crucial that the elements be exactly what they were on the night that our Lord instituted this. 

But this commemoration was not merely for the apostles in the first century. I want you to see the perpetual command. Christ prescribed this ordinance for all Christians through all history. Twice our Lord commands us here to do it, notice verse 24, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Verse 25, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” The tense of those verbs in Greek demands this as ongoing practice, “Be continually doing this in remembrance of Me.” If there is any doubt in your mind, look at verse 26, we are to do this until He comes. The Lord’s table is a permanent ceremony that Christ commanded all Christians everywhere to celebrate. But it is not a private expression of worship. The Lord’s table is not something for you to do in private of an act of worship. Instead, four times in this passage Paul says that it is to be celebrated “when you come together.” So that is the institution of the Lord’s table. That is its origination, how it began. 

Now Paul provides us a second insight in this passage. And that insight provides an explanation of the Lord’s table. An explanation of the Lord’s table. Let me just say, and I don’t have time to develop this, I did a couple of messages on this passage several years ago. You can go listen if you want it filled out where I give the arguments. But let me just say this: Communion is not eating and drinking Jesus’ actual body and blood, whether that is in transubstantiation as the Roman Catholic Church teaches, or whether that is consubstantiation as the Lutherans teach. These elements do not in any way become or somehow connected with the physical body and blood of Jesus Christ. Nor is Communion repeating Christ’s sacrifice as the Roman Catholic mass teaches. Hebrews 9 and Hebrews 10 both drive home that Jesus died for sins once for all. We don’t need any ongoing sacrifice of Christ. His was enough. 

Now, both ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s table are signs. It is a very important thing to recognize. They are signs. They are visible realities that point to spiritual realities. For example, if you came in on the cul-de-sac this morning to our church, you saw out there just before you drove in, you saw a sign. That sign said, “Countryside Bible Church.” That sign is not the church. It points to the spiritual reality which is that the church meets here. In the same way, the Lord’s Table points to spiritual reality—the bread and the cup point to several great spiritual realities. In the interest of time, let you just remind you of three spiritual realities the Lord’s table 

reminds us of. 

First, the Lord’s table is a confession of our faith. It’s a confession of our faith. Think about where it comes from. It comes from the Passover meal which reminds us of what happened in Egypt. Now, for the Israelites in Egypt who had been told by God that the death angel would kill the first born of every house, how did they confess their faith in God and His Word? They killed the lamb. They put its blood on the door post as commanded and then they ate the Passover meal. And when they did that they were saying this: I believe there is a God, that the God of Israel is the true God, that He is a Savior and that He will save me and my family. The blood on the door post was a confession of faith. In the same way, when you and I take of the Lord’s table, it is a confession of our faith in Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 5:7 says, “He is our Passover Lamb.” He’s the real Passover, the One who shields us not from physical death but from eternal, spiritual death in hell forever. And when we take of the Lord’s table, we are saying, “By taking this bread and cup, I am confessing my personal faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I personally enjoy the spiritual benefits that He purchased by His death. My confidence is solely in Him as my only hope of being reconciled to God.” It’s a confession of our faith. 

Secondly, the Lord’s Table is a symbol of our fellowship. First of all, with each other. Go back to 1 Corinthians 10 verses 16 and 17. Paul says, “Is not the cup of blessing”—talking about the Lord’s Table—“which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many”—that is all of us who are believers—“are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.” You see, Paul is saying that we are connected. In fact, the Greek word for “sharing” in verse 16 is koinonia. It means “to be partners with,” “to be in the fellowship of” like that group in the Lord of the Rings that bind themselves together in The Fellowship of the Ring. They are partners; they are together. We manifest when we take the Lord’s Table the reality that we are in the fellowship together with one another. 

But we are also in the fellowship with Christ Himself. Look at chapter 10 verses 20 and 21, “I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice in their idolatry, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.” Idols and all false religion is empowered by and is ultimately the worship of demons. But he goes on to say, I do not want you to that. I don’t want you to become sharers in demons. “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.” Some of the believes in Corinth were tempted to go to the idol celebrations that they used to belong to after they confessed Christ and they thought they could do both. They could take the Lord’s table and they could drink the cup of demons, they could celebrate their feast. Paul says, “Don’t you dare. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” Here, Paul tells us that to drink the cup of Christ is to be sharers, to have fellowship with Christ. It is a symbol of our fellowship not only with each other but with Christ Himself. That’s why Paul calls this ordinance back in chapter 10, verse 21, “the table of the Lord.” Chapter 11, verse 20, “the Lord’s supper.” You see, whenever we take of the Lord’s table, He is the host. It is His table. It’s as if we are enjoying a meal together with Jesus Christ and with each other. The Lord’s table reminds us that by God’s grace we are God’s family. That’s why we don’t do it alone, that’s why we do it with other believers.

The third spiritual reality to which these signs point is the most important of all, it is a remembrance of our Lord. This is really the heart of what the Lord’s table means. In conjunction with both the bread and the cup Jesus says, “This is the reason you are to do it.” Verse 24, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Verse 25, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” According to Jesus, the primary point of this ordinance is to remember. To remember Him and to remember what He has done. 

So, what does the Lord’s table recall to our mind about our Lord? What should you be thinking of when you say, “Let’s do this in remembrance of Him?” Number 1, His incarnation. He became one of us. Verse 23, “The Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body.’” He didn’t mean that the bread actually becomes His body. He was sitting there, His body still intact. When He said, “This is My body,” He meant that this bread represents My body. Just like when Jesus said, “I am the door,” He wasn’t saying that He was a door. A physical piece of wood or metal that swings on hinges. No, it's a figure of speech, and the same thing is true here. He says, “This bread represents my body.” 

Now sadly, we've gotten over the shock of that, but do you see what Jesus is saying? He is saying, the eternal Son of God took on full and complete humanity so that He has a body and blood, just like you. He became like you in every way, except for sin, in order to save you. And when we take of the Lord's table, it reminds us of what our Lord did in the incarnation. The eternal Son of God became one of us and lived among us to save us. In the Lord's table, we remember his incarnation. He had a body and blood, just like we do.

We also remember, secondly, his substitution. He died in our place. Everywhere the Scripture proclaims this is the reality. Isaiah 53 verse 5, He the Messiah “was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being,”—literally in Hebrew—"for our shalom.” The chastening for our shalom, our peace with God, fell on Him. “And by His scourging, we are healed.”

And you know, I love 2 Corinthians 5:21 where Paul says, God the Father “made Christ [the Son] to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” You see, the truth of the gospel is this: on the cross, God treated Jesus as if he had committed every sin of every person who would ever believe, so that forever, He could treat you as if you had lived Jesus' perfect life. That's the gospel. And that's what is proclaimed in the Lord's table. First Peter 2:24, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross.”

In our text, Jesus links communion with remembering that He died as a substitute for everyone who believes in Him. Look at what Jesus said about the bread, verse 24, “This is My body which is for you.” Luke 22 says, “which is given for you.” In our place.

Jesus connects the cup with substitution, Matthew 26:28, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” He said, “I am dying to purchase your forgiveness.” So, the cup then teaches substitution.

This is the gospel. Listen if you're here this morning and you don't know God, your Creator, the only way you can ever, as His enemy, and that's how He thinks of you, if you're living in rebellion against Him, you're His enemy, the only way you can ever know your Creator is by being reconciled to Him through the death of His Son. God can only be just and forgive your sins because Jesus dies in the place of everyone who would ever believe in Him, and then God can forgive. You repent, you believe in Him, that's the only way you can be reconciled. And the Lord's table reminds us of that. When we take of the Lord's table, we remember His incarnation, His substitution, that the perfectly innocent One died in our place.

And we remember thirdly, His resurrection. He rose from the dead. Verse 26 says, “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death,” what? “Until He comes.” You know what that says? That says He conquered death. He's alive just as He promised. He rose the third day.

But fourthly, we remember the consummation: He will come for us. Again, listen to verse 26: “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.”

He's coming back to complete what He started. And when we take of the Lord's table, we're anticipating the day when Jesus comes for us. Because you see, in His future kingdom, we will eat and drink a real meal with Jesus, not a tiny little cracker and a thimble full of grape juice. This is just a promise of what's coming. Jesus said it this way, Mark 14:25, “Truly, I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of God.” It's coming. Jesus refused to drink the fourth cup in the Passover Seder that night. He says, “I'm not going drink it again.” Why? because the fourth cup was tied to the fourth promise in Exodus 6. You know what that promise is? “Then I will take you for My people and I will be your God.” But in the future, we'll drink that fourth cup together with our Lord in His kingdom.

That's our Lord's explanation of the Lord's table. Very briefly, that brings us lastly to the preparation for the Lord's table. This is a sermon in its own, verses 27 to 34. Biblically, to take of the Lord's table requires three things. If you're going take of the Lord's table, three realities. Number one, you have to have true faith in Jesus Christ. You have to have repented of your sins and put your full faith in His finished work on the cross as your only hope of being right with God. Why? Because it's a confession of faith. What's the point of eating and drinking this if that's not your confession? 

Number two, an ability to understand the symbolism. The Westminster Confession says that only such as are of years and ability to examine themselves, to understand and really practice this.

And then thirdly, a commitment to examine your heart. That's the context here. Paul goes on to say in this passage, there are times when even a true believer shouldn't take of the Lord's table because to do so would be to do so in an unworthy manner. You say, “How can I eat and drink as a believer of the Lord's table in an unworthy manner?” Three ways. Number one, allowing ongoing division with other believers. That's the larger context of this passage that he's getting on to them about. Listen, Jesus says in Matthew 5, if you come to worship and you realize your brother has something against you, you better go and be reconciled to your brother first. If you're going to take of the Lord's table, you better make sure that as much as lies within you, as Paul puts it in Romans, you are at peace with all men.

Number two, failing to recognize and take seriously the symbolism of the elements. Verse 29 says, “He who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.” If he doesn't understand what these elements are, what they represent, treats them carelessly, lightly.

And number three, harboring unrepentant sin. Both verse 28 and verse 31. You see, no sin, however great, excludes from the Lord's table if you repented of it. But any sin, however small, does exclude you if you refuse to repent. Only when we examine ourselves and confess our sin, can we take in a worthy manner. To fail to do so brings God's judgment, God's chastening, as we read later in this text, into our lives.

As the men come to wait on us for the Lord's table, take this time to truly examine your heart. Confess your sin to Christ, to the Lord. Seek His forgiveness. Do that now.

Our Father, we are truly amazed that You have given us this beautiful ceremony to remind us of our Lord Jesus and to remind us of what He has accomplished on our behalf. Father, I pray that for all of us here who are believers, who have repented and believed in Him, that you would help us to truly examine ourselves, to judge ourselves, as Paul writes. And having judged ourselves, to confess our sin to You, seeking Your forgiveness, not because we deserve it, but because Jesus does, that He purchased our forgiveness.

So, Father, we come individually and personally confessing the sin in our life. Lord, we confess those thoughts that we have harbored, whether thoughts of pride or selfishness or lust, worry, anxiety. Lord, there's so many ways we can sin against You in our minds, in our thoughts.

Forgive us, our attitudes. Lord, forgive us for words we've spoken that are contrary to Your purpose. Lord, we confess, we often see our words as merely self-expression, rather than what they truly are, tools to use for the benefit and blessing of others and for the exaltation of Your name.

Lord, forgive us for using our words in sinful ways, to tear others down, to lie, to misrepresent the truth, to make ourselves look better. Father, forgive us for sinful actions. Things we have done that are contrary to Your commands or Father, things we failed to do that You command.

We, from our hearts, Lord, confess the sins You bring to mind in each of our lives, seeking Your forgiveness. Lord, we want to take of the Lord's table in a way that honors You. I also pray Lord that as we take of these elements, that it would be proclaiming our Lord's death to those who are here who don't know Him. They would see in this picture the reality of who He is and what He accomplished. We pray it for the glory of His name. Amen.