A recurring theme of this series is that Christian worship is participatory. Perhaps nowhere is the participatory nature of worship more clearly seen than when we eat bread and drink juice (I’ll say wine and juice interchangeably) at the Lord’s table.
I grew up in churches that did not observe the Lord’s Supper very often. I remember doing it occasionally–probably quarterly in some churches, monthly in some churches, and if that church had an evening service, we probably did it then. Growing up, the evening service was a good place to do homework. (Idk if you’re also a church kid, but testimony time and algebra are like peanut butter and jelly.)
When I went to college, the churches I was a part of would do it occasionally, but hardly with much intentionality, clarity, or regularity. In the early days of planting Resurrection, then, we did it in like fashion. Over the course of my seminary studies, though, I began to really think more critically, biblically, and theologically about what happens in a church service. I remember one particular hybrid class weekend at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary focusing almost entirely on baptism and the Lord’s Supper. And I thought why are we talking so much about this? Then I began to realize the answer is that “this” (the sacraments) are a really, really big deal and play a central role in the church’s life.
We then began to observe the Lord’s Supper monthly for a while, then every other week for a while, then weekly–the pattern which holds to this day. (I think change often happens best when it’s done slowly and clearly.)
So, in the spirit of this series, why? Why do we take the Lord’s Supper every Sunday?
// Remember and Proclaim the Gospel
23 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.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (ESV)
Paul understands the Christian observance of the Lord’s Supper to be part of this living tradition that the church receives from Christ.
We see Christ’s institution of the Supper in all four of the Gospels. Luke 22:14-20:
14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper in the middle of a Passover feast. The Passover feast was instituted by God long, long ago to remember the Passover of God’s people as they escaped slavery in Egypt. You cannot understand New Testament worship without Old Testament theology.
Jesus, the true and better Passover Lamb, will die in our place. His blood will cover the doorposts of our hearts that the wrath of God will be averted. His dying and rising will free humanity from sin and here, Jesus is instituting a new feast–a new memorial–one that will memorialize the redemption that is found in his death and resurrection.
Just as Jews looked back at the Exodus, Christians will look back at the cross. By observing this memorial, Paul says, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Let’s zoom out for a moment to see the way that our understanding of worship and the role of the Supper fit together. We rehearse through this ritual action of a sacred meal a story that we are remembering and proclaiming.
Every time we do this, we remember that which we must not forget. We look back to the central event of human history. That means that every single week, no matter the sermon text, no matter the attendance, no matter the energy, no matter the music, we look back to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. The service always lands here. This is our altar call.
It’s a call for non-believers to repent and be baptized and it’s a call for believers to remember the death of Jesus and anticipate his coming. Paul puts another timestamp here–proclaim his death until he comes. We are looking backwards to the most pivotal event in human history and we are together looking forward to the day he returns to the consummation of all history–to the day we eat this feast with him in the Kingdom of God.
// Commune with Jesus
We do not believe that the bread and juice undergo any material or metaphysical change. It’s just bread. It’s just juice. And Christ isn’t dying over and over again when the Eucharist is served. Though we handle the elements reverentially because they point us to Christ, the elements themselves are not to be worshiped.
Unfortunately, I think many evangelicals have been so scared of any talk of a real presence of Christ in the elements, that we have developed a theology of real absence.
We receive Christ in all his spiritual blessings when we come to the Table. You’re eating physically, and you’re eating spiritually. Maybe this is even simpler: Spiritual nourishment is really happening.
This is what Jesus is looking ahead to in John 6:
53 So Jesus said to them, “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. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
The bread is in substance and nature bread, but we can call that bread the Body of Christ because Jesus does, both here and at the institution of the Supper. This is why Christians have fought so much about these words: this is my body. We don’t want to say more than Jesus, but we certainly don’t want to say less than him!
Paul even asks the Corinthians rhetorically in the tenth chapter: 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? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
Why do we observe the Lord’s Supper? To spiritually meet with Jesus and receive the blessings he gives us.
Are you hungry and thirsty for righteousness? COME to Jesus!
Are you weary and in need of rest? COME to Jesus!
Are you a sinner in need of forgiveness? COME to Jesus!
Are you lonely and need a friend? COME to Jesus!
Are you afraid and need comfort? COME to Jesus!
Are you confused and need truth? Come to Jesus!
Jesus gives us food because food nourishes our bodies in the same way he nourishes our souls.
“I thank God that, coming to this table every Sabbath-day, as some of us do, and have done for years, we have yet for the most part enjoyed the nearest Communion with Christ here that we have ever known.” -Charles Spurgeon
// Cultivate Unity
The occasion that prompts Paul’s teaching on the Supper is disunity and conflict in the church:
17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 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? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
1 Corinthians 11:17-22
The Corinthians were using the Lord’s Table as an opportunity to make social distinctions between them.
The rich are eating all the food and getting drunk and the poor are going hungry. WHAT! Eat and drink in your own houses. This isn’t for your physical feasting. This is about God! The thing that is supposed to bring you together, you’re using to draw distinctions among yourselves.
When you come to this table, you come as brothers and sisters, or you don’t come at all.
When you come to this table, no one cares how much expendable income you have on food and drink.
When you come to this table, no one cares what job you have.
When you come to this table, no one cares what you look like, what you wear, how you smell.
When you come to this table, no one cares how many letters you have behind your name.
Remember that first communion: Jesus washes the disciples’ feet and serves them the bread and the wine. He tells them he will not eat again with them until that day he eats with them in the kingdom.
Jesus will set another table. I think we get a glimpse of it earlier in Luke’s gospel. Luke 12:37: Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.
Just like Jesus set a table for his first disciples, he will set another for you and me. We are going to a heavenly banquet with all the saints who have gone before.
And every time we take the Supper, we look back on the first one and we look ahead to the last one.
We transcend the space-time continuum when we come to this table. We taste both what Christ has done and what he will do, and he nourishes us on that journey.
We cultivate unity as we come to this table. Unity with one another in this fellowship and unity with saints around the world who gather around the same table to receive the same nourishment from the same savior–the nourishment that saints of the past now know in full.
