真実は...主の晩餐 (The Truth About... The Lord's Supper)

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This is a production of World Video Bible School.
To God be the glory.
As a new Christian, one of the most immediate issues facing you is worship.
Within a week of the time that you're baptized,
the services of the Lord's church are going to assemble
and you will have the opportunity
to worship God.
But, you know it might be that you're not exactly sure what to do.
You're not exactly sure how God desires for you to worship Him.
You need to understand
that worship is a great privilege given to God's children
and it is certainly something that you want to engage in properly.
Now the Bible lists five acts of worship:
preaching, prayer, singing, giving,
and the Lord's Supper.
In this lesson, we want to talk about the Lord's Supper.
And, there're three points that we want to cover.
Number one,
What is the Lord's Supper;
number two, the time and frequency of the Lord's Supper; and, number three,
we want to discuss some abuses and misunderstandings
about the Lord's Supper. Now,
first point, number one,
what is the Lord's Supper?
First, I want us to consider the fact that it is a memorial.
In 1st Corinthians 11:23, the Bible says that: ...The Lord Jesus,
on the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread and when he had
given thanks, He broke it and said
"Take, eat;
this is My body which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me."
Now, the same thing was said about the fruit of the vine in verse 25.
In the same manner He also took the cup after supper saying, "This cup is the new
covenant in My blood. This do as often as you drink it,
in remembrance
of Me."
When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper,
He took the unleavened bread and He said that we are to eat it in remembrance of His
body.
He then took the fruit of the vine and said that we are to drink it
in remembrance of His blood.
Friends, it's really as simple as that.
The Lord's Supper is a memorial.
It's a time to reflect and a time to remember. There's nothing mysterious
about it.
There's nothing magical about it. I heard someone say on one occasion that
partaking of the Lord's Supper
forgave their sins.
Partaking of the Lord's Supper does not forgive our sins. It is simply
two emblems to help us remember.
Like a person who might set out pictures of a loved one at a memorial or at a
funeral.
They do that so we can remember our loved one.
A few years ago I was in Washington, D.C.,
and I went to see the Vietnam Memorial;
and there's a statue there of three soldiers.
And next to it, there's a wall with the names of thousands of soldiers who died
in that war.
Now, here's a question.
Why were those emblems set up?
And the answer is,
to help us remember...
so that we don't forget.
And the same thing is true about the Lord's Supper.
Jesus Christ gave us emblems that represent His body and His blood
and they cause us
to remember.
Now, the next logical question is what are we supposed to remember? Where should
my thoughts be as I partake of the Lord's Supper?
Well, the Bible says that I'm supposed to remember His death.
I'm supposed to remember his body and I'm supposed to remember
His blood.
1st Corinthians 11:26 says:
"For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,
you proclaim the Lord's death
till He comes."
Sometimes people will say that we're celebrating the Lord's death, burial, and
resurrection.
Certainly they're all tied together and certainly they're hard to separate, but,
Jesus said that we do this in remembrance of his death.
We are remembering the sacrifice.
We are remembering the price that was paid.
You know, there's an old spiritual song that asks,
"Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"
Of course, I wasn't there.
But the Bible here calls upon me to use my imagination
and to let the scriptures bring to my mind the things that happened there.
And so, when I partake of the Lord's Supper,
I visualize the abuse He suffered.
When I partake of the bread
I see the body. I visualize the scourging that He endured.
John 19, in verse 1, says, "So then Pilate took Jesus
and scourged Him."
History says that when they would scourge an individual,
they would use a short-handled whip.
It had several thongs of various links.
And in these thongs there were tied small iron balls or
sharp pieces of sheep's bones
or perhaps iron chains with small weights at the end.
And this scourgers.
There were often times be two of them and they would take turns or there might be
one who alternated positions.
And they would beat the back of the individual
until the blood began to trickle
and the bruises began to form.
And it began to cut into the flesh and into the muscle.
It has been said that it hurt so badly that some men had been known to have
bitten their tongues in two
during the beating.
And, when I
remember
the body of Christ,
I think about that. I think about
them putting the cross
on his bloody, flesh-torn back.
And, I envision the nails being driven into His hands.
In actuality, it was probably the base of the hands, at the wrists.
That would have been stronger. It could support the weight. There's a bundle
of nerves there that makes it excruciating and
the Romans were all about that.
And, then I envision the cross being stood up and dropped into the ground.
Can you see the body?
Can you appreciate
the sacrifice?
And then I partake of the fruit of the vine,
and I imagine the blood.
In my mind's eye, I see the crown of thorns being placed upon His head and the
blood trickling down His face.
I see His back,
bloodied from the beating.
I see the Roman soldier piercing His side with the spear.
And, I always think about John 19:34:
"But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and
water came out."
I always visualize that in my mind.
Someone told me that the Lord's Supper always means more to them immediately
after they've heard a sermon on the crucifixion.
And that makes sense because
that's what we're remembering.
And when you hear a sermon on what He endured,
the emblems bring that to your mind and the sacrifice that He made
is more vivid.
Jesus said... "This do in remembrance
of me."
Now, why is that blood so precious?
Because Matthew 26:28 says because it was shed for the
remission
of sins.
Ephesians 1:7 says without that blood there is no remission.
A friend of mine said that during the Lord's Supper, he likes to remember
by thinking of it this way:
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. What does he mean by that?
Let me go through it for you.
One, he thinks about the one Lord;
two thieves between whom He was crucified;
three crosses that stood on Calvary's Hill;
the four parts of His garment, divided amongst the soldiers;
the five wounds that He suffered: His head, bloody from the crown of thorns;
His back,
raw from the scourging; His hands with the nail scars; His feet pierced with the
spike;
His side bleeding from the soldier's spear.
Then six, he thinks about the six hours of darkness upon the earth
at the point of His death.
And then seven,
he recalls the seven sayings that the Lord uttered upon the cross before He died.
You know, when we partake of the Lord's Supper
it is
a memorial.
Now, secondly, in answer to the question,
"What is the Lord's Supper?" Not only is it a memorial
but it is also a proclamation.
When we partake of these emblems, we proclaim to the world
the death of our Lord.
In 1st Corinthians 11:26, the text says:
"For as often as you eat this bread
and drink this cup,
you proclaim the Lord's death
till He comes."
Why is it important that we proclaim His death?
Friends, because of what it means to us. Because it means that we have
redemption of
our sins
and the hope of eternal life
in heaven.
Now, thirdly, in addition to being a memorial
and in addition to being a proclamation, the Lord's Supper is also
a communion.
In Matthew 26:29, when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, He
told His disciples, "But I say to you
I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink
it new with you
in My Father's kingdom."
Now, what did the Lord mean when He said that?
I think clearly it's a reference to the Lord's Supper. It's what we do each Lord's
day.
And when we engage in that supper,
Christ said that we are communing with Him.
1st Corinthians 10:16, calls it
a communion of the body and the blood of the Lord. It says this:
"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"
Now, the word "communion" is from a Greek word that means
a joint sharing,
a joint participation.
And, sometimes it's translated as "fellowship."
And as I partake of the Lord's Supper, I fellowship with Christ
in a very direct way.
Jesus said that He would partake of it with us
in the kingdom.
And, He does that every first day of the week.
Alright, point number two in our lesson.
Let's discuss the time and the frequency of the Lord's Supper.
You know, to many people in the religious world, the Lord's Supper is
something that's done very infrequently,
perhaps only at Christmas and Easter.
And, it's done on no particular set day of the week.
A denomination near my house had a sign in front of their building
that said
that they were going to have a candlelight communion service
on Thursday night. Another church said that they were doing it on Friday night.
But you see, the problem with that is that's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible says that the early Christians met
on the first day of the week
to break bread or to partake of the Lord's Supper.
Acts 20 and verse 7 says:
"Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break
bread, (that is to partake of the Lord's Supper) Paul,
ready to depart the next day,
spoke to them..."
I want you to notice that they partook of the Lord's Supper
on the first day of the week.
And, it's very interesting here,
the Greek phrase for "came together" is in the passive voice
indicating that their gathering, or their assembly, was not of their own
initiative,
but rather it was of divine appointment.
In other words,
this was God's idea that they come together on the first day of the week
not theirs.
Brethren, the indication of the Bible is that we are to partake of the Lord's Supper
on Sunday. It's the day that the Lord arose from the dead.
It's the day that the church began.
It's the day that the early Christians
partook of it.
We celebrate the resurrection of Christ
every Sunday in that we come together to worship
and we remember his death
when we partake of the Lord's Supper.
Now that we've established the day of the week that we are to partake of the
Lord's Supper, the next question is,
"How often should we partake of it?"
Now, again,
the religious world partakes once or maybe twice a year.
But the Bible says this about the first century Christians.
Acts 2:42 says
"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine
and fellowship,
in the breaking of bread,
and in prayers."
Now, one version says and they were continually devoting themselves
to the breaking
of bread.
Now, does it make sense to you to say that they were continuing steadfastly in the
Lord's Supper
if they were doing it once a year?
Or, somebody else says, well maybe twice.
If that were the case,
how do we know which two to choose?
Now, I know which two people usually choose,
but where does the Lord tell us which two?
You know, if it were to be once a year or if it were to be twice a year, I would
expect that somewhere in the Bible, the Lord would have specified that.
And if not, then He's been inconsistent because
all the feasts that God ever ordained had a set time
and a set
frequency for their observance. Why would He change when instituting the Lord's
supper?
And furthermore, if the Lord's Supper is to be observed once a year
I would expect the Bible somewhere to record a certain day of a certain month
just like He did the feasts of the Old Testament.
But, that's not what I find. And, if it were to be observed once a month
then I would expect to find recorded a certain day
of the month.
But I don't find that either. And, to carry out the reasoning here, I might
also say this.
If it were to be observed a once a week
then I would expect to find recorded a certain day
of the week.
And you know what?
That is exactly what I find,
on the first day of the week,
when the disciples came together
to break bread.
And other scriptures bear this out as well. Acts 20 and verse 7, 1st
Corinthians 11:20 and verse 33,
indicate that the early church came together
to break bread.
In 1st Corinthians 16:1 and 2, tell us that the day that they came
together
was the first day of the week.
And in fact, in the original Greek it contains the word "kata"
which literally means "every," literally
every one of the week, or on the first day of every week.
And, many versions translate it that way.
Friends, the scriptures teach,
and the New Testament bears out, that the early Christians partook of the Lord's
Supper
every first day
of every week.
Now, sometimes people will say,
"Well, that's too often. If we partake of it that often
then it becomes commonplace and it loses its significance."
You know, maybe if the individual lets his mind wander
it may lose its significance.
But that's true with regard to any act of worship.
And honestly,
who can tell me that once a week
is too often to remember the Lord's sacrifice
on the cross?
Can you truly tell me
that if I think about the sacrifice that saves my eternal soul once a week
that it will lose its significance?
You know, there are ten thousand and eighty minutes in a week.
Five of them spent
in memorial of the Lord's death
cannot trivialize what was done on Calvary.
Okay, point number three.
Let's discuss some abuses and misunderstandings
of the Lord's Supper.
First, there is the misunderstanding
that the elements of the Lord's Supper literally become flesh and literally
become the blood of Jesus Christ.
The Roman Catholic Church believes in this doctrine. They call it
"transubstantiation."
And, they believe that when they partake of the communion,
that Christ is literally present and that He is offering Himself to God.
They consider the Lord's Supper as a resacrificing of Jesus Christ. But
that idea is totally foreign to the scriptures.
The Bible nowhere teaches such a concept.
If the bread and the fruit of the vine literally became the body and blood of
Jesus Christ
the word for that would be "cannibalism,"
not "transubstantiation."
You know, the fact of the matter is,
the Lord's Supper is not a resacrifice. Hebrews 9:28
says that Christ was offered
once,
and the word "once" literally means "once and for all"... once and only
once.
Now, a second misconception about the Lord's Supper is that we partake of it
in order to have our sins forgiven.
Now again, the Roman Catholic Church believes that the Lord's Supper, which
they call the Holy Eucharist,
is a sacrifice.
Or I should say, a resacrifice, and they believe that it is propitiatory. In
other words,
it pays the price for sins.
And so, they believe that when you partake of it,
that God pardons wrongdoings and sins, and they would say even grave ones.
And so, the whole thing would be kind of mystical and almost a magical ceremony.
They believe Christ is actually present,
He is resacrificed, and you are forgiven of your sins. But friends, again
the Bible doesn't teach that.
When I became a Christian and I was baptized for the remission of my sins,
that's where I contacted the blood of the Savior, Romans 6:3 and 4.
And, now that I am a Christian,
I continue to have my sins forgiven
by repentance,
confession, and prayer, and walking in the light according to
1 John 1:7-9.
It's not by partaking of the Lord's Supper.
Now, a third misconception, or abuse,
is to partake of the Lord's Supper
but to do so
not discerning the Lord's body.
Now, to not discern the Lord's body
means to partake of the emblems,
the bread and the fruit of the vine,
without focusing on what they represent...
not remembering the body and the blood of the Lord.
And this is the problem they had in the city of Corinth in the first century.
They had made the Lord's Supper into a common meal
and in so doing they had missed the meaning of it.
They were eating it for food sake.
And, Paul severely scolds them.
In 1st Corinthians 11 and verse 20, he said,
"Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper."
Now, it should have been.
But, not the way they were doing it, verse 21:
"...For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others;
and one is hungry and another is drunk. What!
Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God
and shame those who have nothing?"
And verse 27 tells us
that they were partaking of the Lord's Supper
unworthily. Now, what does that mean?
It means they were treating it
flippantly.
They were not discerning the Lord's body. They were ignoring the significance of
it.
They were not
remembering.
And Paul says that he that partakes in this manner
"eats and drinks judgment to himself..." Now, the King James says
"damnation to himself," verse 29.
And particularly, I want you to notice the word
"unworthily."
It's not "unworthy" and there's
a big difference in these two because none of us are worthy of the
blood of the Lord.
If he were saying that, then none of us could ever partake of the Lord's Supper.
You know, occasionally a misguided Christian will not partake of the Lord's Supper one
Sunday, and he will say, "Well, I'm not worthy this week."
Friend, you will never be worthy. I will never be worthy.
But the word here is, "unworthily."
The people in Corinth were eating the Lord's Supper
unworthily. That is, they had made it a common meal and that's why Paul
says in verse twenty,
"... when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper."
Now, it should have been. But it wasn't the way they were doing it. Now why not?
Because they were not discerning the Lord's body. It wasn't a memorial of the
body and blood of the Lord.
It was just food.
And then on top of that, they were slighting
their less fortunate brethren when they ate the meal. They didn't discern
the Lord's body by remembering what the emblems meant. And, and we might also say, that
they didn't descern the Lord body, which is the church, because they disregarded
their brethren.
When they partook of the Lord's Supper,
their minds were not where they should have been.
And you know, the same thing could be said about me today.
Maybe my mind is wondering and instead of focusing on what I'm doing, I'm
thinking about something else.
Maybe I'm not reflecting. Maybe I'm not
remembering.
And so, he tells us in 1st Corinthians 11:28:
"But let a man examined himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the
cup."
That means
I need to check myself.
I need to make sure I'm doing this the right way and make sure that I'm not
doing it unworthily. That is, in
a thoughtless manner.
What is the Lord's Supper?
It's a memorial.
It's a proclamation.
And, it's a communion.
When should we partake of it?
Each and every first day
of the week.
And how should we do it?
Thoughtfully.
Considering the body
and the blood of Christ,
and that precious death
that saved me from my sin.