Hey Church!

We will have the opportunity to celebrate communion this Sunday. Here are some thoughts on the subject that I hope will help you come ready to receive it. 

• Just as the Passover was not intended to be a one-time meal but a perpetual memorial, so the Lord’s Supper is to be celebrated continually by followers of Christ until He comes again (1 Cor. 11:26).
• Passover was also a communal and covenantal meal. It was eaten in community, as a sign that God’s covenant was with a people who were hidden from destruction by the covering of a lamb’s blood.
• After the exodus, future generations were to share the meal in remembrance of how God delivered them from judgment and sustained them through the wilderness. A major part of the Passover liturgy, therefore, was recounting the saving acts of God that the meal celebrated. “And you shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’” (Ex. 13:8)
• The emphasis of the meal was on eating in remembrance, not on the sacrifice of the Lamb. To be sure, the sacrifice was necessary, but it was to be done at another time and place, in advance of the meal. At various times in history, the sacrificial aspect of the communion meal was overemphasized, leading to heresies regarding the sufficiency of Jesus’ death for the atonement of sin. (i.e. in communion, Jesus needed to be “re-sacrificed”)
• At other times, and in some denominations of the Church today, the memorial aspect of the communion meal has been overemphasized, such that the meal itself was seen to confer nothing of actual spiritual significance, but only a time to remember the death of Jesus long ago. 
• Most historical misunderstandings surrounding the meal had to do with the nature of Christ’s presence in the bread and wine. What exactly did Jesus mean when He instituted the Supper, saying, “this is my body,” “this is my blood,” and “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”? 
• Historically, there have been four major camps of interpretation: 
  1. Ordinary bread and wine, memorial/remembrance only, no presence. (e.g. Many non-denominational churches)
  2. After a priest’s blessing, the elements are changed into the literal body and blood of Jesus. (Roman Catholics)
  3. The presence of Christ is not literal but “in, with, and under” the elements. (Lutherans)
  4. Jesus is spiritually present in the communion elements as a sign and seal of His grace. (Reformed/Rio)

• The Westminster Confession of Faith, 29.7:  “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.”
• In addition to Passover, communion recalls Jesus’ fulfillment of the manna God provided for His people in the wilderness. Jesus had that mysterious bread from heaven in mind when He said, “I am the bread of life.” 
• Very few things in the New Testament are explicitly said to be “the Lord’s.” We read about the Lord’s Table, the Lord’s Cup, the Lord’s Supper, and the Lord’s Day. These all belong together and are called “the Lord’s” because salvation belongs to Him alone and He has chosen one day and one communion meal to be the place where He will nourish and strengthen our faith, remind us of our deliverance, point forward to the heavenly wedding feast, and call us to repentance, renewed obedience to His Word, and increased joy as our soul’s hungers and thirsts find their deepest and truest satisfaction in Him. 
• St. Augustine referred to the sacraments as “the Word made visible.” 
• John Calvin said this meal (like the Word) serves as a mirror to our souls, causing us to contemplate our way of life in light of Jesus’ work on our behalf. 
• Historically, one of the most damning censures the Church could inflict was to bar a member from the Table. This form of Church discipline is still employed today for notorious rebellion against the Word of God; it is a wound of love for the purpose of restoring the sinner and protecting the peace and purity of the Church. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Prov. 27:6). 
• Lastly, I want to share this quote that I love from Hughes Oliphant Old: 

“Through the Lord’s Supper, the covenant meal of the New Covenant, the Christian is joined to the crucified and risen Christ and therefore has eternal life. What John says here is very similar to what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11. When we ask how Jesus can give us his flesh to eat, the answer is that he gives us his flesh by becoming our Passover lamb, the Lamb of God, and offering himself up for us. His death and resurrection are for us because we have been joined to him in a covenant relationship; what is his is ours, and what is ours is his. Through eating the bread we  share in his broken body, through drinking the cup we become partners in the New Covenant. We have been consecrated for the new life of the kingdom of God.”

The mystery and wonder of this meal that Christ instituted on the night of His betrayal has such profound significance in the life of believers that it is the subject of volumes upon volumes of theological writings. After 2,000+ years, it has received more ink than perhap any other subject pertaining to Christian worship. What a massively valuable inheritance we have received! That means 1) that it is THAT important and 2) that we have no excuse to come to the Table ignorant of its meaning, or to leave it without a deep and overwhelming sense of joyful gratitude. 

I look forward to sharing communion with you this Sunday!