Video Transcript: The Lord's Supper

Unfortunately, sometimes there have been sharp disagreements over the Lord's Supper and difficulties about it. But I want to go through the teaching on the supper today and to understand what our Lord and His apostles have taught us about the supper and how we can best benefit from it and understand it. As we do this, I want to talk about three main things. 

First, I want to ask the question, what happens in the Lord's Supper? Secondly, what must not happen? Because there are a number of things that should never be happening in the Lord's Supper? And thirdly, who should eat and drink? And maybe at the end, I'll also throw in a few comments just about how often should we celebrate the Lord's Supper? Let's begin though not with my talk or the outline of it. But with one of the key passages in the Bible about the Lord's Supper found in 1st Corinthians 10 and 11. That's the longest sustained treatment of the Lord's Supper in the Bible 1 Corinthians 10, beginning at verse 16, the Apostle Paul writes, the couple 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? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread, consider the people of Israel, or not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar. 

So this theme of participation, of communion in of taking part in is key in this particular statement of the Apostle Paul, he goes on to say that when you take part in the Lord's Supper, you can't be having feasts in the temples of demons. There were some people who were Christians at the time, very new believers who thought they could still go to the pagan feasts, as well as to the Lord's Supper. And the Apostle Paul said, No way. What do I imply them? That food offered to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they offer to demons, and not to God, there's a couple of different ways of thinking about the gods. One way is to think of them as nothing's and zeros. And so if you're in their temple and eating their food, it's no big deal, because there are no Gods anyway, and no special food for them. But the Apostle Paul says, it's not just the worship of a nothing, it's often a connection with demons, and I do not want you to be participating with demons, you cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons, you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. So there's a very clear boundary. And Paul says, You've got to choose, you can't have one or the other, you can't still act like a pagan and go through the pagan rituals and take this precious supper of our Lord. Another thing that Paul talked about was the selfish divisions that could occur among people were some of the wealthier, and people who had more to eat and who were greedy, were exploiting those who are weaker when you come together. Is it not the Lord, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat? For an eating? Each one goes ahead of his own meal? One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or you 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. 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. 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. 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. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. So you're there to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.

 And if you're going to do that, you better check on yourself. And whether you're coming with a faith and an attitude toward Christ and a determination to leave behind your sins, because unworthy participation in the body of Christ brings judgment on you. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill And some have died. Think of that people in Corinth were eating the Lord's Supper and it was killing them, because they were doing so in a wicked and unworthy manner. But if we judge ourselves, says the apostle, truly, we will not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we're disciplined, so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Well, those are excerpts from 1 Corinthians 10, and 11, the longest sustained treatment of the Lord's Supper in the Holy Scriptures. Now let's just think a little bit about what that and other parts of the Bible say about the supper and understand that a little bit better, what happens in the supper? What must not happen, who should eat and drink? What happens in the supper? 

Well, if we have to summarize it in one word, we could use just another word that people often label the Lord's supper with, and that word is communion we often call the Lord's Supper communion, the Greek word for that is Koinonia, which can be translated communion, or sharing or participating in or taking part of, it's also translated fellowship or togetherness. And so what's going on in the supper is communion. Communion, first of all, with the Crucified body, and shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Scripture says, that drinking the cup is communion in the blood of Christ, and that eating the bread is communion in the body of Christ, you're taking part somehow we'll get into that a little bit more. But somehow you're taking part in the real crucified body and shed blood of Jesus Christ in communion, it's a partaking, it's also a communion, a relationship of fellowship with the living Christ, you're not just benefiting from the death of his body and the pouring out of his blood, but you're also being brought into a relationship and communion and enjoying a time of connection with the living Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven, you're lifting up your heart unto the Lord. You're also experiencing communion with others who are part of the body of Jesus Christ, His earthly body, the church, and that's a vital part of communion. 

That's why it was so serious for some members of the church to be getting drunk or mistreating others at the Lord's Supper, because they were not discerning the body of Christ in the church. So it's a very serious thing not to discern the body of Christ that He sacrificed for us. But it's also very serious not to discern the body of Christ in the people whom he has given to one another. What happens in the supper is a communion with those people and in communing with them, communing with the head of the body, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there are different views of the presence of Jesus Christ, in the elements of the Lord's supper or in the event of the Lord's Supper. And I just want to highlight a few of those. One is a view called Transubstantiation. And that's the big long word for a view that a priest represents Christ's sacrifice, that in a sense, the sacrifice of Jesus is being enacted all over again, and the brand and the wine become the actual body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This view was given voice by Thomas Aquinas, the great thinker of the Middle Ages, and it's the view officially held by the Roman Catholic Church today. 

Another view is calmsubstantiation, a label for a view that many Lutherans hold that Jesus is physically present in with, and under the bread and wine, it's not necessarily transformed into the literal Body and Blood of Christ by any words of the priest. But nonetheless, Jesus, who is ubiquitous, who is present everywhere, is physically present in with and under the bread and wine. And that view is called calmsubstantiation. Another view was held by Ulrich Zwingli and some other people of the Reformation era. And Ulrich Zwingli taught that it is just a symbol, the supper pictures Jesus Christ given for us, and it's a visual aid. And that's all it is, Christ isn't uniquely present, when the supper is served, and we need to just understand it as a picture. And as a reminder. 

Now there are some Baptists, that certainly not all, who would hold that view. And some people have independent churches and other evangelicals, who would hold that Jesus is just known symbolically in the bread and wine, but no more. And a final view, one that I hold one that great Wayne Grudem teaches in his book, systematic theology, one that a lot of Reformed theologians and reformed baptists like Wayne Grudem would hold is that Jesus Christ is present in a special way in the Lord's Supper, and that he is present in a manner we can't quite explain or understand, but he is present spiritually and not just symbolically, and that Christ comes to us in a special way in the supper, and there are hearts are caught up to him. 

There's not a physical transformation of bread and wine and yet there is a spiritual participation in the very body and blood of Christ and a spiritual communion with Jesus Christ. John Calvin held this and as I said, a lot of other reformed and Presbyterian thinkers, reformed baptists, and a variety of others would hold to the spiritual presence of Christ in the supper. That's given voice in some of the great confessions of the Reformation era that that followed some of Calvin's thinking on the sacrament, the Belgic confession says to support the physical and earthly life God has prescribed for us, and appropriate earthly and material bread, which is as common to us as life itself also is, but to maintain the spiritual and heavenly life that belongs to believers, he has sent a living bread that came down from heaven, namely Jesus Christ, who nourishes and maintains the spiritual life of believers when eaten, that is, when appropriated and received spiritually by faith. So this part of the belts confession is saying, just what the Bible says, When Jesus said, I am the living bread who came down from heaven. And if you eat from me, you'll live forever. And they're saying that the way you eat of this living bread, Jesus is by faith in Jesus, that's fundamental, before you start bickering about what exactly happens to the bread, or what exactly happens to the wine, remember that the core of it all is that the mouth of your soul is faith, and you are receiving the living bread from heaven, Jesus Christ by faith, to represent to us this spiritual and heavenly bread. Christ has instituted an earthly and visible brand, as the sacrament of his body. And wine is the sacrament of his blood. He did this to testify to us that just as truly as we take and hold the sacraments in our hands, and eat and drink it in our mouths by which our life has been sustained. So truly, we receive into our souls for our spiritual life, the true body and True Blood of Christ our only savior, we receive these by faith, which is the hand and mouth of our souls. 

Now, it is certain that Jesus Christ did not prescribe his sacraments for us in vain, since he works in us all he represents by these holy signs, although the manner in which he does it goes beyond our understanding, and is incomprehensible to us, just as the operation of God's Spirit is hidden and incomprehensible. So this is where I think the belts confession and the spiritual presence view gets it right. God somehow works through these holy signs. And we're not sure how, but he does it and He does it by His Holy Spirit. And when you start explaining how the bread becomes this and the wine becomes that you might get yourself into more trouble than you should, and give false explanations just leave it a mystery, and say, God does it in some way we can't figure out by His Holy Spirit connecting us with the living Christ, and with the body and blood of Christ. And so yet we do not go wrong when we say that what is eaten is Christ's own natural body. And what is drunk is his own blood. But the manner in which we eat it is not by the mouth, but by the Spirit, through faith. So as your mouth takes in bread and wine, your soul is taking in the Holy Spirit and participating in the in the blood and body of Christ and all of his benefits.

The Heidelberg Catechism, another Reformation era confession says, are the bread and wine changed into the real body and blood of Christ? No, just as the water of baptism is not changed into Christ's blood and is not itself washed away sin, but it's simply God's sign and assurance. So to the brand of the Lord's Supper is not changed into the actual body of Christ, even though it is called the body of Christ in keeping with the nature and language of sacraments. Or Why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood? Christ has good reason for these words, he wants to teach us that as bread and wine nourish our temporal life, so to his crucified body, and poured out blood truly nourish our souls for eternal life, but more important, he wants to assure us by this visible sign and pledge that we through the Holy Spirit's work, sharing his true Body and Blood as surely as our mouths receive these holy signs in his remembrance, and that all of his suffering and obedience are as definitely ours, as if we personally had suffered and paid for our sins. Some churches have an altar call, in a sense, this is the real altar call. Whenever you take in the body of Jesus Christ by faith and eat that brand. Whenever you drink that cup and are receiving Jesus blood by faith, you're coming to the true altar that God has proven I have that everlasting altar where Jesus sacrificed himself once for all, and we receive these holy signs, and those things are definitely ours, Jesus salvation and all that he did for us is as surely ours, as that bread goes down into your stomach, as that wine goes down into your stomach. So all the benefits and blessings of Jesus Christ, go into the mouth of faith, and go into nourishing you and your soul for everlasting life.

Well, we've talked about what happens in the supper, what must not happen, the Bible talks about that. One thing that must not happen is superstition, acting like the supper is some sort of magic medicine that protects you from sin and judgment. There's a view of the sacraments sometimes receives various labels, but that it's just an automatic acting, it has an automatic effect on you, that brings automatic blessing and saving benefit. That's just superstition. sacraments of benefit, these ordinances of Christ are of benefit only when taken in by faith and otherwise, they can do more harm than good. And so we have to avoid a superstitious notion that something magical is happening that a priest or someone else by pronouncing certain words, is transforming them, you know, where the word hocus pocus comes from, comes from the Latin higest corpus. This is the body because the priests were supposedly speaking the words that changed bread and wine into Jesus body and blood. And they were usually doing it in Latin, which most people after a certain point in history couldn't even understand anymore. And yet, they were saying, the higest Corpus, which became hocus pocus and the Lord's Supper and the word spoken over, it became a bunch of hocus pocus. And that's one thing that must not happen. And the Apostle Paul wants us to make sure that we know the supper comes to us and it must be received in faith because it brings judgment to us if we don't receive it by faith and with understanding of what's involved. 

Another thing that must not happen is syncretism, syncretism is the mixing together or the blending of different religions. Paul talked about that, in his letter to the Corinthians when he said you cannot be eating in idle temples and communing at demons tables, and then coming to the Lord's Supper as though you can kind of straddle and do both at the same time. Remember what the property Elijah said in the old testament to the people of Israel who were trying to worship the Lord Iava and who were also trying to worship Baal at the same time. And Elijah said, How long are you going to limp along between two opinions if the Lord is God, serve him if bales God serve Him, but make up your mind. And every time you're coming to the Lord's Supper, there is a make up your mind. If you're taking this supper, you belong to Jesus Christ. And you can't be communing with other religions with other demons with other ways of life that are contrary to Christ. And then of course, if we're going to avoid superstition and syncretism, let's get rid of the swine fishness, too. We already read about that, from Paul's letter to the Corinthians, where there were factions and divisions among the believers, where they were favoring one and not another, where they're acting like a bunch of hogs and engaging in piggish violation of communion, some getting drunk some stuffing their faces, others going without anything and just disregarding and mistreating other believers away with such swine fishnets, says the apostle now, that might not be a problem for most people, when they're actually at the Lord's Supper these days and get a little thimble full of drink and a little square of bread. But the principle of avoiding swine is treatment of other people have having division among believers, and of some being wealthy beyond reason and others going without, these are all examples of swinesness that the Lord's Supper rules out. Well, the Lord's Supper is participation in real grace, not cheap grace. And that's why you have to avoid those things. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the matter, who served the Lord and died for his testimony and died for trying to overthrow Adolf Hitler, wrote about cheap grace and he called it the preaching of forgiveness without repentance, of communion, without Confession, of grace, without discipleship, Christianity without Christ. And that is to be avoided in our faith, but also in our treatment of communion to think you can just go to the communion table without repenting of sin, without confessing sin, without the determination to be a disciple who follows Jesus Christ Himself. 

Then the Lord's Supper is just being treated as a cheap ritual, a cheap trick, and not a real blessing. But when it's real Grace, well, then the Lord's Supper is a tremendous gift from God, to strengthen our faith and our union with Jesus Christ and with others. Well, in light of all that, who should come to the Lord's Supper, who should eat and drink. The Bible makes clear a number of things. It says all those and only those who first of all, are baptized as a mark of union with Christ and his church. Baptism is the mark of joining Christ's body in the first place of becoming part of the people of God. And so before you come to the Lord's Supper, you should first of all, be a baptized person, and you should belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, you should have personal trust in Jesus, and publicly profess your faith in Jesus Christ, before you come to the Lord's table. One way that the church guards the table from being misused and, and helps to prevent people from Britain drinking judgment on themselves, is for the elders of a church to make sure as far as it can, of course, we can't read people's hearts, but at least to make sure that they do trust Jesus Christ in the End and profess that they trust him before they start taking part in the Lord's Supper. And we get that from those words of Paul, that person shouldn't be examining myself and should understand what's going on. We know what the bread and the cup represent. Someone who doesn't understand the bread doesn't understand the cup, is not able to partake by faith in the elements of the Lord's Supper, and so you should eat and drink only if you understand what the bread and the cup represent. And also we've, we've set it rules out syncretism, this mixing of religions, or of mixing with the world, you shouldn't be eating and drinking the Lord's Supper if you're trying to have it both ways. You should seek separation from evil, separation from the wickedness of the world and pursue unity among believer instead of the Swedish Pneus and division that's there. 

So those are, those are four basics of who should eat and drink are you baptized, the trust Jesus and publicly profess faith in Him, If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead says the scripture you will be saved, and saved people are the ones who should be taking part in the Lord's Supper. It's a nourishment for their faith, then know what the bread and cup represent, and to be separate and the god realize that when you come to the Lord's table, you can't take part in the table and in the supper of the demons. 

The Belgic confession explain some of these things as we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ has ordained and instituted the sacraments of the holy supper to nourish and sustain those who are already born again and engrafted into his family, his church. So there you have that requirement, that you be a person of faith who has confessed your faith and are born again. Although the sacraments and the thing signified are joined together, not all receive both of them there are some people can eat the bread and drink the wine and not receive the benefits. 

The wicked person certainly takes the sacrament, to his condemnation, but does not receive the truth of the sacrament, namely Christ. Christ is communicated only to believers and that's why it's so important to be a believer, when you come to the Lord's table, who are to come to the Lord's table says the Heidelberg Catechism, those who are displeased with themselves because of their sins, but who nevertheless trust that their sins are pardoned, and that their continuing weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ, and who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and to lead a better life, hypocrites, and those who are unrepentant, however, eat and drink judgment on themselves. 

So just to review, again, what happens in the supper, communion is what happens partaking, sharing, fellowship, togetherness, communion in the crucified body and shed blood of Jesus communion with the living Jesus in relationship to him and communion, fellowship with your fellow believers in Jesus body. What must not happen? Well, at least three things no superstition, or treating it like some sort of magic mumbo jumbo or hocus pocus. syncretism must not happen where you're trying to walk with Christ one minute, and then trying to do the work of the demons or get involved in another religion or other central practices the next and just all around swine fishness factions and acting like a pig and mistreating your fellow believers rather than treating them all, as part of one body in Christ, who should eat and drink all and only those who are baptized, who trust Jesus and a professor that trust, who know what the bread and cup represent, and you want to be separate from evil and pursue unity among believers. And finally, how often Well, I think that at least once a week is a good rate to celebrate the Lord's Supper. That was the opinion of to have My favorite preachers and thinkers, John Calvin wanted weekly communion. Jonathan Edwards, a leader in the Great Awakening, sought to have weekly communion every week in his church in the church that I helped plant we do celebrate the Lord's supper every week. 

And so to celebrate the Lord's supper at least once a week, I think as some biblical precedent it seems like in the New Testament, and in the records of the earliest believers after the New Testament, every time the believers gathered for worship in Jesus name, they would take part in the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist, which means the Thanksgiving, they will take part in the Eucharist, the Thanksgiving, the communion. And so whether you agree with weekly or not, let me just urge you again, to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ to receive Him as the food of your soul for eternal life. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.