Scripture Reading
Good morning to everyone. You can turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. We're not observing the Lord's Supper today, but we're going to look at the Lord's Supper as Paul rehearses the institution of the Lord's Supper by our Lord Jesus Christ within the context of dealing with sinful conduct at the church in Corinth. surrounding their observance of the Lord's Supper. And when we observe the Lord's Supper, or when we explore the Lord's Supper from the Bible, it's not simply an exploration of that Christian ordinance.
It is also an exploration of the perfections of God. It's an exploration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it's an exploration of the faith-strengthening power of the Holy Spirit. We're going to read from 1 Corinthians 11, beginning at verse 17, to the end of the chapter. So 1 Corinthians 11 17, this is the word of the triune God.
Now in giving these instructions, I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And in part, I believe it. For there must also be factions among you that those who are approved may be recognized among you.
Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper. 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? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, 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. Do this in remembrance of me. 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. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
Therefore, my brethren, When you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come. Amen.
Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time together now in worship, the preaching of your word. We do pray that you would help us to have ears to hear, that you would help us to have hearts to receive your blessed word. Might we be filled with your Holy Spirit as we gain an appreciation for the Lord's Supper as we reflect upon the dying of the Son of God upon Calvary's cross as that ground for the supper and the shedding of his blood at Calvary's cross. We pray, Lord God, that you would help us believers here to be strengthened in our faith, to be all the more built up in it.
And Lord God, by your Spirit, we would pray that you would save sinners this morning unto the praise of your glorious grace. And it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as we noted, Paul is dealing with sinful conduct at the Lord's Supper, and we can see that that conduct is absolutely wretched. In an ordinance given by the Lord to be an observance, a remembrance of His death upon Calvary's cross and His ratification of the new covenant, there were some who were eating unto gluttony, drinking unto drunkenness, and some who were starving because those were glutting themselves upon the food. at the supper that surrounded the Lord's Supper observance. And so, what the Apostle Paul does in the midst of strong condemnation is he sets forth the Lord's institution of his own supper as the ground for which they should reflect upon their sin and so observe the Lord's Supper in a proper manner. If the Lord's Supper is, and it is, a remembrance of the dying of the Son of God upon Calvary's cross wherein His body was broken and His blood was shed, then far be it from any Christian to call it a light thing, to gather together for the Lord's Supper for such a blessed remembrance.
We want to look at four things this morning connected to the text, and the text specifically verses 23 to 26. We're going to note first the Lord's Supper's character as a divine command. Second, its character as a remembrance, generally. Thirdly, its character as a remembrance of Christ, specifically.
And lastly, its character as a proclamation. Just by way of introduction, though, we want to note it's a curious thing that the very things ordained by God for the good of His Church are often things treated lightly by the Church of Christ. We can think of what we are to do as Christians in the Gathered Church, pray. the reading of the scriptures, the singing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, the preaching of the word, and baptism in the Lord's Supper. Very often, perhaps, in the modern church at large, not to exclude ourselves, but in the modern church at large, there's a seeking after the shiny things of a modern and a pseudo-Christian religion, and not a glorying in the heritage things that we have in our Christian faith, the simplicity and yet the glory of gathering together for prayer, the reading of the scriptures, the singing of hymns, the preaching of the word, and the administration of the Lord's Supper and of baptism.
Also, by way of introduction, there are two things that we want to note before we dive into the text. There's an interesting thing that we have here. When we read For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread." There's something very vital that we have in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ administered the supper that would be a remembrance of Him on the very eve of His sacrifice. John Calvin notes this, speaking with respect to Matthew 26-23, on the night in which he was betrayed.
This circumstance, as to time, instructs us to the design of the sacrament that the benefit of Christ's death may be ratified in us. For the Lord might have sometime previously committed to the apostles this covenant seal, but he waited until the time of his oblation. That simply means his sacrifice upon the cross. But he waited until the time of his oblation that the apostles might see soon after accomplished in reality in his body what he had represented to them in the bread and in the wine.
So when we read in this text here, it's not just simply the Apostle Paul recounting a historical fact that Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper on the night in which he was betrayed, but the providential and blessed timing that on the very night before the Son of God would give himself for guilty sinners, he institutes a remembrance of the fact that he is giving himself and that he gave himself for guilty sinners upon Calvary's cross. And we want to note, secondly as well, by way of importance before we dive in here, that the Lord's Supper is replete with gospel. This text, verses 23 to 26, is replete with gospel. That is what the Lord's Supper is all about.
It's not about us, it's about Christ and the blessed gospel of our glorious God. So let's look at the text now then, and first we want to note its character as a divine command. Notice that we see this first. Well, before we see this first, we want to qualify this statement, its character as a divine command, by saying that Christianity is not a do-this-and-live religion.
In fact, uniquely, Christianity is a redemptive religion. All other religions, in one way, in one fashion, or in one manner or another, seek to appease God or the gods, a god or the gods, by human doing, human striving, human deeds, and human works. the essence of do this and you shall live. Christianity comes as the true and saving religion and it says Christ has done, believe on him and you will live. But there is in the Christian religion, there are do this is.
There are commands given to us, not that we might be saved by their performance, but having been saved by amazing and victorious grace, we're called as a pattern of living to do things as we conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. So we see here the Lord's Supper in its character as a divine command.
The Lord's Supper as Divine Command
Notice first we see it at the beginning of the text, verse 23, for I receive, this is Paul writing, for I receive from the Lord that which I also deliver to you." Now, you might say at first glance, well, how do we see divine command in that? We're not simply to see the superficiality of language here, but apostolic authority, as Paul gave to the church at Corinth, the administration of the Lord's Supper, its observance. For I received from the Lord." The apostle here received from the Lord divine command. He received instruction with regards to the Lord's Supper.
Not only did Paul then receive it, but then Paul delivered it to the church at Corinth. So we are to see in that statement divine command. They are to observe the Lord's Supper. And we ought to note here that we are, as Christians 2,000 years removed from the writing of this, we are also the blessed recipients and beneficiaries of an I received and delivered to you history.
You know, the exalted Christ at the right hand of the Majesty on High, by His Spirit, has delivered to men throughout the history of the Church, and they have in turn delivered to us the words of Christ and the truth of Holy Scripture. We ought to always rejoice in our God for the fact that we have had throughout the history of the church those who have received and those who have delivered to us. But we see this pattern in the New Testament that the apostles received from the Lord and those apostles in turn deliver to the church. So this brings to the fore one of the things the Apostle Paul is trying to do here.
He's trying to answer sinful conduct at the Lord's Supper by asserting that the Lord's Supper comes by apostolic command. How dare you treat the Lord's Supper in this particular manner by being gluttons and drunkards when this blessed ordinance comes to you by the very divine apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also see its character as a divine command in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ rehearsed. Notice in verse 24, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, that is the bread, and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you.
Do this in remembrance of me. And he repeats that with the cup. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This, do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
So in rehearsing this, Paul is asserting against the malconduct of the Corinthians that you should be observing this with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear, because it is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who is commanding you to do this. And the do this assumes that it is done in a particular manner, which we'll note shortly. The Lord's Supper, its observance is by divine command. I think we as Christians, perhaps it's just the modern landscape we live in.
We're sort of gluttons on measures of freedom in the West, freedoms that are slowly being taken away, possibly, but nevertheless, we live in a land of liberty, and we live in a land of excess, and we live in a land of the allurements of the world. And so, the Lord's Supper is often cast off, even by Christians, as something that's optional, as something that can be missed. I came to the morning service, that's sort of good enough for my religious servants for the week, for the day. I don't need to attend the Lord's Supper.
But the Lord's Supper comes to Christians as a divine command, and not as of a divine command given by some heavenly tyrant, pressing his thumb of oppression upon us that we have to come into this to this place and observe this supper, but rather it comes from a gracious God who has graciously pulled us from out of darkness into marvelous light, who has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us or conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love, and we are to see it as a blessed reality to gather together our joyful Christian responsibility to observe the Lord's supper, to so take of the bread and eat, to so take of the wine and drink, And in so doing, observe and remember the blessed dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes with us. It comes to us in a do-this character. Our confession of faith reads this way.
It's rehearsing the elements of worship. And it says this, the reading of the scriptures, preaching and hearing of the word, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord, as also the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper Notice the character of our Christian worship there. When we talk about do this, when we talk about the fact that Christ says, those who love me will do my commandments, we don't come to these do this's and these commandments as, you know, begrudging slaves of a heavenly tyrant. But rather, these things are to be performed in obedience to God, notice, with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear.
That means Christians are to have a deep understanding, in this case, of what the Lord's Supper is all about. We're to have understanding when we worship. We're to know who we worship, we're to know who is the champion of our salvation, and who is the one who strengthens us in the observance of this supper. We're to do it with faith.
We gather together for the Lord's Supper, doing it in faith, in hope, resting upon the promises of God that all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. And this twofold sort of reiteration, though there may be nuances, reverence in godly fear. This is something that separates us from the world and worldly things. You know, many of us, we were speaking last night a little bit about this, where some of us were gathered together about the worldliness of the modern church in many spheres and sectors and quadrants of the earth.
Where there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the world and the church. And the church, of course, doing world a whole lot worse than the world does it. You know, we come into this place as Christians, and there is in essence to be a change when we enter these doors, because this is a holy place. The structure itself is not holy as if we're Roman Catholics, but we come into a place where sobriety of our Christian minds is to grip our hearts, and there's something different when we come in together.
We're to be marked by reverence and godly fear. Because we have the audience of the triune God, we have Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the creator of all things, the upholder of all things, and the redeemer of his elect. We have this God who looks down upon us and blesses us richly as we gather for worship. There is a reverence and godly fear that we are to be marked by.
And this obtains with regards to the Lord's Supper as well. This is Gil speaking with regards to Christ's words of institution and specifically the language of do this. Observe this ordinance, now he's sort of speaking as if he were Christ. Observe this ordinance in the manner I now institute it in time to come, in memory of what I am about to do for you.
For this direction does not only regard the present time in action, but is intended as a rule to be observed by the churches of Christ in all ages to his second coming. He has by precept enjoined it on his apostles and disciples and all successing ministers and on all his followers to the end of the world. And again, this is a blessed, our Christian observance of the do this's of God which are given for our good and for his glory, we do so joyfully in cheerful obedience to a blessed master. This is Hansard Knowles on this idea of the do this, and perhaps more importantly, what should be the joyful Christian obligation to observe the Lord's Supper.
This is an old particular Baptist from 17th century. He wrote, the Saints, when they sup with Christ, have meat and drink which others know not of. Those believers who slight or neglect any of the holy administrations and ordinances of God do stand in lack of that fellowship with the Father and and that communion with Jesus Christ in the Spirit, which other believers do enjoy. O dear friends, be not wanting to your precious souls, either in slighting or neglecting the ordinances of God, why should you cry, O my leanness, my barrenness?
How kindly do ye deal with Christ to slight and neglect or refuse his gracious invitations to heavenly banquets at his table. That last statement is blessed with regards to the do this, with regards to the command to observe the Lord's Supper. We're to see it, yes, as a divine command, but as invitations to heavenly banquets at his table. The Christian who who cries, oh my leanness, my barrenness, that is perhaps to translate that I'm suffering in my walk with Christ.
I'm feeling spiritually low. I just don't feel like I'm atop the hills of Christian joy. The question may come, well, are you attending church regularly and are you observing the Lord's Supper? No.
Why should you cry, oh my leanness and oh my barrenness, when you slight those blessed invitations to the heavenly table of Christ? Its character, the Lord's Supper, comes to us as a divine command, but again, not tyrannical oppression, but the blessed invitations by our divine creator, sustainer, and redeemer. to banquet at his table.
The Lord's Supper as Remembrance
Secondly, we see the Lord's Supper in its character as a remembrance. Notice the language that we have in the text. Verse 24, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
And again, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So first off, the Lord's Supper is a remembrance. And when we think about remembrance as Christians, we are to recognize that remembrance is some of the first motions of the Christian soul in its walk with Christ.
We read the scriptures and God calls us time and again, whether it's Old Testament or New Testament, God calls us to remember, to remember the works of the Lord, to reflect with sweet contemplation upon the doing and the dying and the rising again of Jesus Christ, to reflect upon the blessings that God has given us. Remembrance is the stuff of the first movements of the Christian soul. we come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the natural exercise of the Christian heart.
Remembrance in the Psalms and Paul
In fact, turn with me to the book of Psalms for a moment. You can turn to Psalm 77. Psalm 77, in fact, the Psalms are replete with remembrances. As David, as the people of God are reflecting upon the blessed works of God in deliverance, in upholding, in his sovereignty, victories against enemies and all the sort.
Notice in Psalm 77 at verse 10. And I said, this is my anguish, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember your wonders of old.
There's something that has been termed historical retrospect, something that identifies the Christian in the Old Testament, the believer in the Old Testament, the believer in the New Testament. We, with our Christian minds, made new by the Holy Spirit of God, we reflect upon the blessings of God. The people in the Old Covenant would be called to reflect upon their deliverance from out of bondage in Egypt. That is something that we'll look at in a moment with its connection to the Lord's Supper.
But the people are called to, as we see here, I will remember the works of the Lord, surely I will remember your wonders of old. Also, Psalm 111, just a little bit to the right, Psalm 111. Notice in Psalm 111 at verse 4, he has made his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.
We're called to reflect upon those works and the statement here It gives a particular purpose to the giving of divine works or the pouring out of divine works He made his wonderful works to be remembered that to be here a purpose statement The Lord is gracious and full of compassion haven't you at at times had cause as a Christian as Christians to to do that to reflect upon the fact that God in the past has been gracious and full of compassion to you, because we can be bumbling idiots. We can be, you know, sinful as we go about our walk as Christians. We can sort of feel good about ourselves for a time, but then remaining corruption creeps in and we're pulled back to stumbling and to sin and to into transgression, but God lifts us up from out of that pit, lifts us up from out of that hole, lifts us up and calls the calms the storms and the rains of those spiritual lowliness periods, causes the sun to shine with the blessing of his countenance, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. It is the exercise of the Christian heart to remember the works of the Lord.
If we turn to the New Testament as well, an act of remembrance that we are to, and you can turn to Ephesians, an act of remembrance that we are to engage in Though this act of remembrance is to be very swift and to not linger and to not be prolonged, that is the remembrance of our former selves prior to grace coming and making us alive in Christ Jesus. Notice in Ephesians chapter 2, at verse 11. Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. We'll stop there for a moment because that sort of remembrance, or those sorts of remembrances, are not to be prolonged as if we're sort of, you know, Protestant monks whipping ourselves for weeks with lashes to self-atone for our sinfulness.
We're not to linger upon our sin and stay upon remembrances of our sin for long periods of time. were to immediately fly to verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. The blessed Christian act of remembrance is to be a constant act. And, you know, we talk about thanksgiving and gratefulness to God. Thanksgiving and gratefulness assumes and acknowledges remembrance.
Because we can't be thankful if we are void of memory of what we are to be thankful for. That's why the Christian is to be, in essence, in a constant state of remembrance. The Lord's Supper is a peculiar and particular instance where we're called in the context of worship to remember, but the Christian is to ever and always be about remembrance.
The Lord's Supper: Remembrance of Christ
Third, then, If we now move from the general recognition of the Lord's Supper as being of remembrance, we want to note thirdly its character as a remembrance specifically of Christ. The text says if you find your way back there, or if you are simply trying to find your way back there, I'll simply read it right now. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So the Christian, one of the natural motions, one of the natural actions of the Christian heart is to remember. then we are specifically called in the Lord's Supper to remember Christ. There's a wonderful, when we read the Matthew 26 passage when we gather together for the Lord's Supper, there's a wonderful thing that's going on there.
Remember that the Lord's Supper is being instituted by our Lord in the context of the Feast of Passover. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not just a, you know, wow, this is a happy accident. It just happens to be the feast of the Passover when I'm delivering this initiation or this institution of a new observance of remembrance.
That is by, of course, divine design, because everything is. It's by divine design that the Lord Jesus Christ gathers together his disciples during during the recognition and the observance of the Passover meal. There's something very rich going on there. Because in that instance, the very Lamb of God, who is the shepherd of the sheep, in the context of a remembrance that calls to mind the slaying of the Lamb and the spreading of the blood to escape Egypt, that same Lamb who is the shepherd of the sheep is instituting a meal which will be a remembrance of him as the Lamb of God who gives his life for his sheep.
That Passover meal was something that, yes, remembered the slaying of the Lamb for escape out of Egypt, but it also pointed forward to the true Passover sacrifice, even Jesus Christ the Lord, who would give his life for his people as the Lamb of God. So when we have the Lord Jesus Christ instituting the Lord's Supper in the context of Passover observance, it's not haphazard and it's not accident. There is a transference going on there from the observance of the Passover to now this reality that the very Passover lamb, the true Passover lamb of God, Jesus Christ, has come, and he now institutes this remembrance of him as the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
What the Remembrance of Christ Entails
What are we to remember then with respect to Christ? If Christ institutes this and he says, do this in remembrance of me, what are we to remember? Well, very quickly and of course, we're to dwell upon and contemplate His person. He's very God and very man.
Not just that, but the condescension in the Incarnation for our delivery, for our redemption, for our recovery, for giving His body, for shedding His blood, were to reflect upon the fact that He is that Lord of hosts in Isaiah 6, where the angels cannot cast their eyes upon Him. And Isaiah is brought to his knees before this one whose train of the robe is filling the temple. He's so glorious that only the hem of his robe fills the temple. And we read in later revelation that it is, of course, Isaiah casting his eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ in exalted glory.
That one came down from heaven, took upon our humanity to save us from our sins. That one took upon himself a body and a reasonable soul that he might give up his body and soul upon Calvary's cross for our redemption and that he might shed his blood for our salvation. What a blessed thing we have in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to reflect upon his life.
Now, In the time that it takes, perhaps, for the bread to, you know, we don't have a whole lot of time at the Lord's Supper, but I think we have enough time to do this, to first reflect upon his person and to reflect upon his life. We look back upon the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we think about the condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ. We think about the Son of God as a babe in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling cloths. You know, the very one who created humanity, who created the very wood of the manger, who created the very water that's put in mangers, who created the beasts of the field that gathered at that natal scene, that very one is hanging upon the breast of an earthly mother at his birth.
The height, though this seems like an oxymoron, the height of that condescension. What a blessed thing we have in the fact that the one who is the creator of worlds, who fixed the stars in place, is fixed upon the breast of an earthly mother. We think about his baptism. submitting to John the Baptist. The one who's the very creator of oceans, the one who was standing as judge over the earth as he sent the floods of water upon the earth is found dipped, is found immersed in a body of water that he might fulfill all righteousness.
Our minds, our Christian minds in this act of remembrance can turn to his victory over the devil in that wilderness battle. thinking of our Lord Jesus Christ as the one who, in our stead, goes against, as Spurgeon calls him, that roaring Diabolus in the wilderness, in the desert, as he's tempted three times. Thrice he's tempted, thrice he rejects the devil, and he's victorious over that wicked lion from the pit. The lion of the tribe of Judah conquers the lion of the pit with the blessedness of a champion of men. We think about his opposition.
What a thing it is to read through with Pastor Butler, to receive the preaching of Pastor Butler as he works through the Gospel of John, and to see that Christ came to his own people, and his own people reject him at every turn. his own people that to whom the promises of a messiah were given century upon century reject that very same messiah announced and promised as he's standing before them as he's teaching before them as he's healing before them and doing mighty signs before them he's rejected of his people and we we can think of him just prior to his death what a what a thing it is to follow the earthly sojourn of our Lord Jesus Christ as he mounts up to giving his life upon Calvary's cross, those final hours where he's betrayed by a friend, where he's betrayed by a friend, an unbelieving wicked man, but he's also betrayed in a sense by those or at least denied by those in his midst. All of his disciples, with the exception of John, scatter. Peter denies him three times before a servant girl on Solomon's porch. There's all of this opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we can look with our Christian minds sometimes and perhaps be brought to a measure of sadness and lowliness as we look upon our Savior and watch Him as He goes about these oppositions by the hands of wicked men. But I think at the same time, our hearts ought to be cheered in remembrance because it is a journey of redemption. It is a walking to the cross that he might receive the venom of enemies, but that it is not in vain, it is unto victory that he might give himself for guilty sinners. And specifically as we consider the Lord's Supper, the institution of it, and the reiteration by the Apostle Paul, we're of course to be thinking about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tonight we'll have a greater opportunity to look at some of the theology that rests behind the Lord's Supper, but notice the institution of the Lord's Supper with a specific emphasis upon the death of Christ. Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
This do as often as you drink it. in remembrance of me. The remembrance of Christ at the Lord's Supper is specifically and pointedly and chiefly a remembrance of his death upon Calvary's cross. This is why a slighting or a neglecting of the Lord's Supper is a slighting and a neglecting essentially of considerations of his work, perfect work, upon Calvary's cross. What better is there for us to do on a Saturday evening that Sunday evening, excuse me, we're not Jews or Seventh-day Adventists, are gathering together on a Sunday evening, what better is there to do than to gather together as the Church of Christ to observe in remembrance the Supper of the Lord, which is a remembrance of the dying of our precious Christ?
The answer is there is nothing better to do than that on a Sunday evening. This is why Paul comes against this madness that's going on in the wicked conduct of the Corinthians when they're gluttoning themselves and engaging in drunkenness and such that it of course precludes or excludes a proper remembrance of the dying of our blessed Savior. John Gill writes here, with regards to the remembrance of the death of Christ at the Lord's Supper, it may be observed that the Lord's Supper, which is a feast, is a commemoration of the ratification of the covenant of grace by the blood of Christ, and wherein and whereby the faith of God's people is strengthened and confirmed as to their interest in it. You see, there's a two-fold slighting, and a twofold neglecting when Christians do not observe the Lord's Supper.
The first is that it is a slight or a neglect against the finished work of Christ. He gave himself that we might gather as Christians to eat the bread and to drink his wine in remembrance of his blessed dying upon the cross. But there's another element that amplifies the sliding and the neglecting, and that's what Gill writes here, wherein and whereby the faith of God's people is strengthened and confirmed when they engage in the Lord's Supper. As we'll notice tonight, 1 Corinthians 10 tells us that at the Lord's Supper, we are fellowshipping with God.
The communion that's used there, the word communion, is not a horizontal communion that we have one with each other, though we do have that, The communion there is a fellowship with the triune God at the Lord's Supper when the risen Christ exalted Christ in his humanity at the right hand of the Father. by His person, sends His Spirit, and we are nourished and strengthened in our faith. We remember Christ, but at the same time, at the Lord's Supper, we are fed by the Spirit in that observance that we might grow and be strengthened in our walk with Christ. And so it is a two-fold sliding or a two-fold neglecting, in the least, when we do not observe aright the Lord's Supper and we absent ourselves. Now of course there is the legitimate participation or coming to the service for the Lord's Supper and a legitimate absenting himself that Paul deals with here, but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
But a deliberate slighting, a deliberate neglecting of the Lord's Supper or simply what we might convince ourselves is a legitimate absenting ourselves for other activities on the Lord's Day evening is a slighting and it is a neglecting of the very blessed remembrance that we're given and the strengthening that comes by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Passover and the Lord's Supper
I want to note something here, if you'll turn back with me to Exodus 12, because we noted that the Lord Jesus Christ gives the institution of the Lord's Supper in the context of the Passover meal. And there's a particular text in Exodus chapter 12 that we have that speaks with regards to remembrance as well as worship. Remembrance in the context of worship. Notice in Exodus 12 at verse 26, and it shall be When your children say to you, what do you mean by this service?
This is specifically speaking about the Passover celebration. And it shall be when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service? That you shall say, it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households. So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
You see this connection between remembrance and worship? The observation of the Lord's Supper, our Christian participation in the Lord's Supper, is an act of worship. It is something that God calls us to in that invitation to His heavenly banquet. We remember it.
It's no longer, as far as the people of God, a remembrance of deliverance out of Egypt. With the coming of the one to whom that remembrance pointed, it is now a remembrance. If we were to move this language to the New Covenant, We could say something like, what do you mean by this service? And you shall say that it is the remembrance of the sacrifice of our Lord, who by his once-for-all sacrifice upon Calvary's cross redeemed us from the bondage of sin and placed us into the blessed liberty of the sons of God.
What a wonderful thing we have in the remembrance of Christ at the Lord's Supper. We are to see this blessed connection between the remembrance in the Lord's Supper and an act of worship with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear.
The Lord's Supper as Proclamation
And fourth, we ought to notice, and last, we ought to notice that with respect to the Lord's Supper, we see it in its character as a proclamation. Notice in verse 26 of 1 Corinthians 11, So the Lord's Supper is a remembrance, but it is also a proclamation. Many have rightly said that the Lord's Supper, the observance of the Lord's Supper brings together past, present, and future. It's not only a remembrance, it is a remembrance, but it's something remembered by the gathered church throughout all the ages, and it's at the same time a proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ until the Lord comes again.
Another reason why it's so important to gather, because when we gather together as Christians, when we take this broken bread, and when we drink this poured wine, we are proclaiming the gospel to each other. It's a rehearsal of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to each other, but it's also a gospel proclamation to those in attendance who are outside of Christ. And so what a blessing it would be to have the churches filled at the Lord's Supper when we're gathering together to observe the very death of the Son of God. And remember that that death of Jesus Christ upon Calvary's cross, if you'll forgive the pun, is the crux of history.
The death of Christ upon Calvary's cross is the very center of history. The death of Christ upon Calvary's cross is not simply another historical event, along with a multitudinous other events that populate the annals of time. It is the very reason for which time exists. It is the very reason for which creation exists, that in due time, that in the fullness of the times, God would send forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who are under the law.
And he does that by his perfect life of obedience unto this cross death that we remember with the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine. What a blessed thing it is to proclaim this as we gather together. We preach the gospel when we observe the Lord's Supper. In fact, Calvin said something very interesting.
I mentioned that in the sort of in the modern church and it doesn't escape the the the safe confines of the reformed church sometimes as well, but sometimes there is a I don't know what the word would be a deference to or an acquiescing to the mind of modern man to try and satisfy their their seeker sensitive selves and the churches will try to Prop up, you know the shiny things of entertainment and all these other things to try and to try and acquire and retain people within their church ranks At the time of the Protestant Reformation, the context of this quote that I'll read by Calvin, he's dealing with the Roman Catholic Church and all of their statues and their crosses of gold and silver, all of these decorations that violate the second commandment, but that also steal away in that the minds of people away from the proper message preached. And so with regards to the proclamation that we observe in the Lord's Supper, listen to Calvin. Paul declares that by the true preaching of the gospel, that by the true preaching of the gospel, Christ is portrayed and in a manner crucified before our eyes, Galatians 3.1. Of what use then were the erection in churches of so many crosses of wood and stone, silver and gold, if this doctrine were faithfully and honestly preached?
Christ died that he might bear our curse upon the tree, that he might expiate our sins by the sacrifice of his body, wash them in his blood, and, in short, reconcile us to God the Father. From this one doctrine the people would learn more than from a thousand crosses of wood and stone. As for crosses of gold and silver, it may be true that the avaricious give their eyes and minds to them more eagerly than to any heavenly instructor. Just pause on that for a moment.
If we think about, if we try to transfer that language to the modern church, there are some that are taken away, that give their eyes to all of these other things, give their minds to all of their other things, rather than attend to the heavenly instructor. That is, God, through the preaching of the Word, setting forth the Son of His love to those in need of that blessed Son. Calvin closes this then, getting more to our point, even were the danger less imminent still, when I consider the proper end for which churches are erected, It appears to me more unbecoming their sacredness than I well can tell. To admit any other images than those living symbols which the Lord has consecrated by His own word, I mean baptism and the Lord's Supper.
In the Lord's Supper, we have a blessed living symbol of the doing and the dying and the rising again of Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior. We proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. What a blessed thing it is then to gather together for the Lord's Supper. Remember that when we sing hymns, when we sing hymns and songs and spiritual, hymns and songs and spiritual songs, we're singing to one another with joy and hope in our hearts.
That is something that we need to appreciate, that we're singing to one another. You know, we don't come in here as so many maverick Christians, where we just, you know, come in, we're a bunch of independent Christians that come in, we sit in our places, we're near each other, kind of, but we're just still just maverick Christians that come in, and then we leave. We're coming in, and we're not maverick Christians, but we're fellowshipping in the body of Christ as the very body of Christ. And so, when we sing hymns, we're not engaging in a simple rite of worship.
We're not only just singing to ourselves, we're not only, though we are blessedly singing to God, but we're also singing to each other. So much the more so when we gather together for the Lord's Supper, we're proclaiming the very gospel of Jesus Christ to one another. And we should never slight or neglect any opportunity such as that wherein we are so commanded by God through scripture to gather together to proclaim that living symbol in that living symbol of the Lord's Supper, the very gospel of Jesus Christ.
Application
So in closing, Just three quick things, and then we will fill your hungry stomachs with blessed food. The first thing is that we are to obey Christ. Now, this can sometimes rub against our Protestant and Reformed hearts. Obey Christ?
Of course we obey Christ. If you love me, Christ says, you will keep my commandments. One of the things that we see in the Great Commission Jesus Christ is resurrected before his ascension at the end of Matthew's gospel We read that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ And he says go make disciples of all the nations baptizing him and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and then he says teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you The Lord Jesus Christ, in his position as the mediatorial and redeeming king of his elect, commands his people to observe the Lord's Supper. And again, a blessed command, an invitation as a command to gather together for blessedness at his heavenly banquet.
We are to obey the Lord Jesus Christ as he says, do this in remembrance of me. And what better thing to do, to gather together as a church for worship, to gather together as a church, to pray, to read the word, to preach the word, to gather together as a church, to observe that blessed banquet, and preach to one another the gospel of Jesus Christ in that living symbol, and to remember in obedience to Christ the blessed salvation that he affords his people. So we're to obey Christ. We are to remember Christ.
Remember, remember. The Lord's Supper is an act of remembrance. It's not just that, as we'll see that tonight, if we could borrow from Richard Barcellos' book. It's not only a memory, it's not just a remembrance, but it is, importantly, a remembrance of the dying of Christ, the breaking of His body and the shedding of His blood.
And so remember Christ. Yes, remember Him in your weekly Christian walks. Yes, remember Him as you're going about your days, as you're gathering together for family worship, Whatever you're doing for your own for your own devotional reading all of that sort of stuff is blessed and is good But remember him in this peculiar way that he commands gather together with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to observe this ordinance and to remember that the blessed doing and dying of the Son of God. Spurgeon wrote or preached, Oh, had I eloquence, I would bestow a tongue on every drop of blood that is there, that your hearts might rise in mutiny against your languor and coldness and speak out with earnest burning remembrance of Jesus.
Hopefully that hits each and every one of us, that our hearts might rise in mutiny against our languor and coldness. That means that our hearts, enlivened by the remembrance of Christ, our hearts reminded by sweet contemplations of the blessed person of Christ and his person in work, that we might rise in mutiny, that we might attack, if you will, that we might bring sword and axe against our languor and coldness of heart, which is so prone to cause us to absent ourselves from the very ordinances of the Church, and that we might speak out with earnest burning remembrance of Jesus. And then lastly, we want to avail of the proclamation of Christ. You know, whether it is in prayer, when we pray the Word, whether it is in the reading of the Scriptures, in the preaching of the Word, where we hear the Word, or whether it is in baptism in the Lord's Supper, where we see the Word, we are to gather together for that blessed proclamation of Christ.
There is nothing better under God's shining sun than the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that the creator of all things, that the sustainer of all things, that the redeemer of God's elect came down from on high, took upon himself our humanity, and performed perfect obedience, died upon Calvary's cross, and rose again, that we might have a righteousness that avails with God, and the forgiveness of sins. And what a blessed thing we have in the Lord's Supper, which is a rehearsal of that very thing, which is a living symbol that God has given to His Church, that we might reflect upon the blessed salvation that He affords. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for what you give us in this letter to the Corinthians. We do pray that you'd help us as a church to reflect with great joy upon the giving of the Lord's Supper, that we would see it, Lord God, as a blessed opportunity, a joyful observance that we can gather together to Remember our Savior and to proclaim His death till He comes again. Help us to be such as who obey Christ, to be those who remember Christ, to be those who gather together to proclaim Him.
And might we simply and joyfully, often and always, reflect upon His doing, His dying, His rising again. Might we reflect upon your love, your mercy, your grace, your holiness and justice as they all come and visit us as we cast our eyes of faith upon the cross of Calvary. Help us, Lord God, to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of your gospel, worthy of your gospel by grace, and we pray, knowing that we have not been saved by deeds of righteousness which we have done, but rather according to your mercy we've been saved, we pray that by your spirit you would cause us to obey those things as a pattern for living in your word that we might glorify you and bring comfort and courage to one another. We pray in this meal that we're about to have, Lord, we pray that we would have blessed conversation and fellowship.
We pray that you would strengthen us in this meal by what you've given. Nourish us, do give us much strength and cause each and every tongue to give you praise for the benefits and the blessings you provide. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Well, if you'll stand with me and sing, our closing hymn will be a doxology, but not the doxology. We're going to turn to 572. 572 in our hymn books. Let's stand and sing that together. so Peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Well, please be seated and we'll have a brief time of prayer. When the piano is finished, you are dismissed.