August 2, 2020
By October 1529, the Protestant Reformation had gained significant momentum. Twelve years earlier, on October 31, 1517, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther had posted his Ninety-five Theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. The church door served as sort of a community bulletin board. His purpose was to challenge his colleagues to a debate – fellow priests, profs and monks – those trained in theology. He never intended to ignite an international controversy. The posting wasn’t even written in German – it was in Latin, the academic language of the day.
But someone obtained a copy of the Ninety-five Theses and translated it into German. They printed it on Gutenberg’s new printing press and distributed it by the thousands. Luther became an overnight sensation. Which is good, because the church was badly in need of reformation. So, one thing led to another, plunging all Europe into religious and political upheaval. God used Luther as a match to light the kindling of the Reformation which had piled up for centuries.
No one escaped the convulsions of the church and its inevitable consequences. In their newfound freedom, reformers began springing up all over – Germany, Switzerland, France, later England, Scotland, the Netherlands. All of Europe was engulfed in the flames of the Reformation. While largely in agreement, each reforming group began to have its own unique twist on certain doctrines and practices. There were also significant political ramifications to the movement, which brings us back to twelve years after the posting of the Ninety-five Theses. You see, the Roman Catholic Church had held unbelievable political power – with the ability to control the appointments of local rulers, regional kings, even the emperor himself.
Philip of Hesse, one of the German rulers, recognized the political advantage that could be gained by uniting the various reform movements. If he could somehow form a political alliance between the Protestant states, he might be able to weaken the Catholic Hapsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire. So, he called for a meeting to convene in Marburg, Germany on October 1, 1529. It was the largest gathering to date of Protestant Reformers. Included in the list of attendees were heavy hitters Ulrich Zwingli of Switzerland and Martin Luther of Germany.
The meeting was called the Colloquy of Marburg and lasted October 1 through 4. During those fateful days, they could agree on doctrines about the Trinity, the person of Christ, His death, burial and resurrection, justification by faith, original sin, the Holy Spirit, the church, the number of sacraments. They ironed out agreement on 14 of 15 points – in fact, as I recall, fourteen and two-thirds of fifteen points. But, they got to their respective understandings of Communion and they could not agree. While both Luther and Zwingli strongly denied the teaching of the Catholic Church on transubstantiation, they could not agree on how Christ was present in the sacrament, if at all. So, they left the meeting without a signed agreement, and no political alliance. And that disagreement actually exists to this very day.
In a day when the church has diminished in value and become quite optional; in a day when individualism and consumerism have reigned supreme, I want to remind us, it is about Christ and His kingdom, of which the church plays a vital part. The church Jesus promised to build; strong enough to withstand the attacks of the evil one, and strong enough to withstand our misunderstandings, indeed, our failure to understand the importance and centrality of the church and its ordinances.
How important is understanding Communion? How deep is the divide between those who disagree? Mary I ruled England from 1553-1558. During her reign, she, a Catholic, had almost 300 Protestants burned at the stake for refusing to see the physical body and blood in the elements during Communion, earning her the name, Bloody Mary. John Piper suggests if they are known for their brutality, we will be known for our superficiality.
Now, the church can be defined as a group of believers in Jesus Christ called out of this present evil age for specific purposes – fellowship, worship, evangelism, discipleship, etc. Included in the definition is the understanding, from the Reformation on, that a true church is committed to the gospel rightly taught from the Word of God and to the ordinances rightly administered and observed, of which there are two – baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Now, baptism is a rich practice, symbolizing our identification with Jesus and His death, burial and resurrection. It symbolizes our sins being washed away, our dying to self and being raised to walk a new life in Christ, as well as our entrance into the Church of Jesus Christ. While there are many nuances and practices within Christian churches today, the practice of believer’s baptism by immersion most closely catches the meaning of the word baptism, and most closely mirrors the practice observed in the New Testament.
The second ordinance is Communion or the Lord’s Supper. Some call it the Eucharist, which comes from the Greek word, eucharisteo – to give thanks. So, the Eucharist is the giving of thanks for the body and blood of Jesus. But, again, there is a variety of teaching and practice with the ordinance, so I want to cover it today, trying my best to explain the practice biblically. And then, we’ll observe the table together today at the end of the service. Since it’s been some time since we’ve observed Communion, and since we have many tuning in on Live-stream, I decided to take an aside from our study of II Peter to discuss the Lord’s Supper.
Let’s begin, then, with the institution of the ordinance found in Matthew 26. We’ll hopefully then arrive at a definition of what communion really is. Let’s read Matthew 26:26-30.
Incidentally, you read basically the same description in Mark and a similar account in Luke, who adds the important words of Jesus, “do this is remembrance of Me.” Paul says the same, quoting Jesus, “do this [both eating and drinking] in remembrance of Me.” Paul goes on to say, “as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
From that, we understand that while baptism is a one-time event symbolizing our identification with Christ’s death and resurrection, and our entrance into the Church, communion is an on-going identification with Christ and our ongoing participation with His Church. So, some of you have been in churches which practice communion weekly, or monthly, or quarterly, or annually. The Scripture doesn’t define how often we are to observe it – it just says, as often as we do – indicating more than once – we proclaim His death until He comes. Now, there is evidence in the New Testament the early church observed communion whenever they got together – probably at least weekly on the first day of the week – maybe more – perhaps when they gathered daily in one another’s homes. The point is – frequency isn’t commanded, but it appears to be rather frequent. So, here at Alliance, we choose to observe the practice at least on the first Sunday of each month. And since we haven’t met together for some months, and because of the pandemic, we haven’t observed the ordinance. I want us to, today.
Now, as most of you know, this first Lord’s Supper (that’s what Paul calls it in I Cor. 11:20) took place on Thursday night, the night of Jesus’ betrayal, before His crucifixion on Good Friday. Jesus said about the supper, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” Meaning, this meal, this ordinance was directly connected to Passover. And it pointed to Jesus Christ, causing Paul to say, “For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.”
You remember the Passover found in Exodus 12. The Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. Moses had been sent to deliver them and lead them to the land of promise. Of course, Pharaoh refused just as God planned, giving God the opportunity to display His power and glory over the nation of Egypt and their pagan gods. That display came in the form of ten plagues: the lasts of which was the death of the firstborn.
It was during that last plague that God instituted the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the night the death angel was to go through the land, the Israelites were to sacrifice a lamb, placing blood on the doorposts and lintel of the house. When the death angel saw the blood, he would pass over the house, leaving the firstborn within alive. From that time forward, they were to celebrate this event annually to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt.
On the 10th day of the first month of their year, the month of Nisan, they were to select a lamb without spot or blemish – see how it pointed to Christ? They were to keep it until the 14th day of the month, and then sacrifice it at twilight. That evening, they were to roast it and enjoy the Passover meal together, complete with lamb, unleavened bread, wine, bitter herbs, and a fruit and nut chutney. The week following was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, during which time they removed all leaven from their houses – symbolizing both the haste with which they left Egypt as well as leaving behind the evil influences of Egypt.
As you would expect, by the time of Jesus, all kinds of tradition had arisen around the Passover. They would select the lamb on the tenth of the month and take it to the priests for approval. They would keep the approved lamb until the 14th, then two men would take it to the priests to be sacrificed. Remember, it had to be sacrificed at twilight, which by this time came to mean between 3 and 5 p.m. There would be lots of people and lots of lambs and lots of blood. In fact, it is said the blood would flow out the back of the Temple, down the Kidron Valley to the brook below and turn it red. The men would take the lamb back where they celebrated the Passover with their families. The typical Passover meal went like this:
First, the head of the household would offer thanksgiving, praying over the first of four common cups of wine to be shared during the meal. Common cups means everyone drank from the same cup. Don’t worry, we won’t do that today. Those four cups of wine corresponded to the four promises God made to the Israelites in Exodus 6:6-7 as He prepared to deliver them:
a. I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
b. I will deliver you from their bondage.
c. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
d. Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God.
They would alternate between eating and drinking and singing the Hallel – Psalm 113-118. The point is, it was a festive celebration, ordered to remind them of God’s great act of salvation in delivering them from Egypt. And at that last Passover of the Old Covenant, Jesus instituted the first Lord’s Supper of the New Covenant. You see, one thing you must know is this: God is really into theologically rich symbols which point to His goodness toward us. And so, for thousands of years, the Jews celebrated the Passover. And for two thousand years now, the Church has had a theologically rich tradition celebrating Communion to remember God’s goodness toward us through the cross of Jesus Christ. Which is really the definition of the ordinance – it is an event, a memorial by which we remember and celebrate the body of Christ broken for us, and His blood shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.
You see, here’s my challenge this morning. I don’t want to just give a lecture on a doctrinal practice of the church. Some of you have observed communion dozens, hundreds of times. We take the cracker crumb, we take the little cup of juice, and we partake. But I want us to remember. To remember the deeply rich theological truth of the practice, and be moved by its meaning, and feast on Christ with incredible thanksgiving in our hearts. Remember.
Which takes us back to the beginning and the unfortunate disagreements that have existed in the church about the meaning of the practice. The disagreements can really be broken down to two basic ideas: in what way is Jesus present in the practice, and what does the practice actually do? I also want us to look at I Corinthians 11 in a moment to help us understand who should observe it, and how it should be observed.
So, the first question: in what way is Jesus present at His table? It’s an important question. You see, I agree with Professor Wayne Grudem who says, “It would be healthy for the church today to recapture a more vivid sense of God’s presence at the table of the Lord.” Let me tell you at the outset – I believe Christ is here in a special way at His table.
Well, the Reformers and most Protestants agree the doctrine of transubstantiation isn’t quite right. As you may know, the Catholics teach when the priest blesses the elements, specifically when he holds them up in the air (hoc est corpusmeum), the bread and wine literally turn into the body and blood of Jesus – that is, that Christ is physically present. There are all kinds of ramifications to that, most notably they believe when they observe the Eucharist each week at the Mass, there is a sense in which the body and blood of Christ is sacrificed again. Most of us take great issue with that.
Just for your information – remember the Colloquy of Marburg and the disagreement on that 15th point? Martin Luther believed that while the elements don’t turn physically into the body and blood of Christ, Jesus is present in the elements – it’s called consubstantiation. Luther said that Jesus is in, with and under the elements – much like a sponge contains water, so also the elements contain the body and blood of Christ. So, when Jesus said “this is My body, this is my blood,” He meant it literally. Zwingli took issue with that, saying the elements themselves represent the body and blood of Christ – the meal is simply a memorial.
A third view, one I personally hold, is there is a special sense in which Christ is spiritually present when we come to His table. Again, quoting Grudem, “Sometimes Protestants have become so concerned to deny the Roman Catholic view of the ‘real presence’ of Christ in the elements that they have wrongly denied even any spiritual presence.” Another writer calls it the “doctrine of the real absence,” that is, Jesus is everywhere present except at the table. I would suggest the elements of bread and, in our case, juice, remind us He is spiritually among us. We remember His body and blood, yes, and continue to feast on Christ with thanksgiving in our hearts. There is a real sense in which He is specially and spiritually present at His table. It’s why we also call it communion – we commune with Him. Which means, my brothers and sisters, it’s more than just a cracker crumb and mini-cup of juice.
Which leads to the second question – what does the practice do? Well, in no sense is it redemptive or saving. In no sense does it provide saving grace for us. But, it does remind us of the death of Christ on our behalf, it reminds us of our sin and need of a Savior, and gives us opportunity to examine our own lives and recommit to personal purity, and to feast spiritually on Christ and all His benefits toward us in salvation.
Now, it also reminds us, as we partake together, of something more. Paul addressed it in I Corinthians 11. As you know, Paul was writing to a divided church which had a lot of problems. One of the most significant problems was their factions – their dividing themselves around certain personalities – I follow Apollos, I follow Peter, I follow Paul, but I follow Christ. These divisions were even seen in the way they observed communion. Without going into a lot of detail, a cursory reading shows that they were enjoying a feast together, without waiting for everyone to be present. To that end, Paul said, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat. They were divided around factions. Certain groups in the church, the rich, would dine sumptuously, while certain groups would have little, or nothing to eat.
And so, Paul reminds them that communion is a symbol of our unity together. In I Corinthians 10, he says, “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.” Please see, as we partake together, it is a picture of our unity. Which is why, in chapter 11, after reciting the practice of the Lord’s Supper, Paul goes on to call them to unity through personal examination. Look at it quickly, I Corinthians 11:27-29, “27Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.” In the context – not judging rightly the body and its unity. He goes on to say, that’s why many of you are sick, and some have died – because of your sinful, divisive condition in approaching this very special meal. Don’t take it lightly.
All of that helps us identify, by the way, who should participate in communion. It should be followers of Jesus Christ – those who have identified with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it should be those whose lives are examined and forgiven and confessed, and therefore, clean before the Lord.
Which brings us then, to the practice. Jesus took some bread and gave a blessing, perhaps something like this common blessing, “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.” Then He broke the bread, which would have been large, flat loaves of unleavened bread. He gave it to His disciples – the wording indicates He personally handed it to each of them. Then, He said these words, “Take, eat; this is My body.” This was a sharp departure from the normal Passover meal, and would have shocked the disciples.
This is my body. Luke adds some detail, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Do this, why? Just like the Passover, to remember the great salvation God has provided for you through the sacrifice of His own Son.
So also, He took the cup – the common cup – I believe the third cup, called the cup of blessing. Jesus takes that third cup, which corresponded to the third promise, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great judgments.” He gave thanks, probably with words similar to these, “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.”
He took this third cup of blessing and shocked them even more. You have to see them exchanging shocked glances when He said, “Drink from it, all of you: for this is My blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sin.”
You have to remember how repulsive blood was to the Jewish mind. They were strictly forbidden from blood. Now, here, Jesus says, this cup is my blood – drink it. It is reminiscent of John 6:53, where Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” Eat His flesh? Drink His blood? Remember, when He said that, many of His so-called disciples turned away and followed Him no longer, because these were difficult words.
And here He says it again. We know He means, unless you are willing to receive and partake of the sacrifice of Christ for you, there will be no forgiveness of sin. Know this – Jesus was instituting a new memorial, yes. But He was doing much more than that. He was doing away with the Old Covenant and bringing in the New. A New Covenant by which our sins would be eradicated, forgiven, forever. You see, the Old Covenant was inaugurated in Exodus 24 with the shedding of blood. Listen to these words:
7 Then he [that is, Moses] took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” [but they didn’t, because they couldn’t. Not because the law was bad – it was good. It was because they were weak in their sinful flesh.]
8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Do those words sound familiar? And they were some of the most important words to every Jew. The disciples knew them – they understood, maybe not till later, but they knew that Jesus was instituting a New Covenant – a covenant Jeremiah tells us about in Jeremiah 31:
31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.
33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Do you see that? The Lord’s Supper is a reminder of a whole lot more than the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. While it includes that, it tells us that by His sacrifice, Jesus brought us the New Covenant, and sealed it with His own blood.
That’s good news. And we remember it with this meal. A Christian Passover, if you will, by which, when we have eaten His flesh and have drunk His blood – meaning, we have received His sacrifice by faith and have been born again, our sins have been forgiven – we partake together, remembering the inauguration of the New Covenant. We don’t remember a deliverance from Egypt any longer – that was the last Passover; we remember forever, through many Passovers, our deliverance from sin.
A couple more thoughts as we prepare to take communion together. Notice verse 29 again, “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.” Certainly, this is a reminder Jesus is coming back for us, and we will drink together at the Messianic banquet. Remember, I believe the communion cup was the third cup. But, there were four cups, right? And they correspond to the four promises of Exodus 6. The fourth promise said this: “Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God.” I don’t believe Jesus drank the fourth cup that night. I believe He’ll drink it with us when we are in His presence; we His people and He our God in the fullness of the kingdom.
Finally, verse 30 says they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives (Gethsemane). That hymn was most likely the last part of the Hallel Psalms. Which end with these words, “You are my God, I extol You. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His loving kindness is everlasting.” Today, we gather again, as the body of Christ – and I want us to remember His goodness to us. To extol Him, and give thanks, for He is good.
And now, we’ll observe the Lord’s Supper together. I want to remind you that He is present, spiritually, is a special way at His table. I want to remind you as we eat together, we eat of His bread, which richly symbolizes His body, given for us. We drink of His cup, which richly symbolizes His blood, poured out for us for the forgiveness of sins – this cup which is the new covenant in His blood.