The Lord’s Supper

Ray Exum
Crystal Lake Church of Christ
Sept. 27, 1998

On these Sunday nights in September and October we are looking at the five acts of worship. Last Sunday evening we looked at the general concept of worship, and we saw that our Lord said to the woman at the well, in John 4:24, that God is only pleased with worship that meets three conditions. First, it has to be spiritual in nature. That is, we have to have the right attitude. It is not something that we go through as a formality. Secondly, it has to be in truth; that is, in accordance with the word of God. There is a third principle we looked at in John 4:24, and that is that God is to be the center of our worship and not the people in the audience. So we are to please Him and not try to keep everyone entertained.

This evening let us look at the first of the five acts of worship; the five ways that God has requested that we worship Him. Let us begin with the part of worship that is a memorial. We have many memorials in the United States. Many years ago, Jessie and I visited Washington D.C., and we toured the Lincoln memorial. It is quite an emotional thing to see the tribute there to Abraham Lincoln. It is quite emotional to read the words inscribed at the base of that memorial: "In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of A. Lincoln is enshrined forever." It is very moving to see quotes from various speeches that Lincoln made that have been engraved in the walls of that beautiful memorial.

We have a memorial down in St. Louis, and that is the Arch. It is a tribute to all of the pioneers who went west and settled the frontier. Here in Crystal Lake, in the cemetery next to the Police Department, we have a statue dedicated to the memory of men from this area that died in the Civil War at the battles of Shiloh, Stones River, and Vicksburg. As a country, we have an entire day each year set aside as a memorial and that is Memorial Day. Some people say that the day is there just to show that school is about over or it is a day we have set aside for the Indianapolis 500. No, that is not correct. It is a day that goes back to the Civil War, in which we are to remember those who have died on behalf of the country.

Here at this church building we have a number of memorials. In the front of our songbooks there is a little stamp that we have put in, stating that the books were donated in memory of one of our dear sisters in Christ, Evelyn Robinson. The furniture in the lobby of this building was donated in memory of our sister, Grace Phillips. The sign down the street and the landscaping was a donation in honor of Julie’s Emch’s mother, Clarise Woodley. We recently had a very large donation in honor of the memory of Geneva Wilson for new furniture in my office. So we will be getting a new desk in there and a new computer station and we are very grateful for that memorial. There have been some other memorials that have recently been donated to the church here in memory of great brothers and sisters in Christ.

If we go overseas, there are memorials. I’ve never been to London, but I’ve seen photographs of Trafalgar Square, the memorial to Lord Nelson. I’ve seen photographs of Paris, the Arch of Triumph, and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. I have never been to Great Britain, but I have read that in Westminster Abbey in London there is a very touching memorial to all of the British who died from the German bombing in World War II. I’ve read that there are four giant books there, listing the names of all who were killed by the German bombing. And as I understand it, there is a spotlight that shines down on this table. They take one page a day and this light shines down on those names. The next day they turn the page and again it shines on those names. They go through this one page per day, day after day after day. When they get through all four volumes, they start over. I suppose this will go on, as long as Great Britain stands, to give a tribute to those who gave their lives in World War II.

In the Old Testament, we read of several memorials. The rainbow was a memorial to God’s promise that he would never destroy the world by water again. In the book of Joshua, chapter 4, as the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on dry ground, the command was given for each tribe to appoint one man to go to the middle of the river bed. He was to take a rock out on behalf of that tribe. These 12 stones were placed on the western bank of the Jordan River. You can read about this in Joshua 4. They put these 12 stones in a pile to be a memorial to the event of the crossing of the Jordan River. So as the children grew up, they would ask why they had this little pyramid of rocks here and they could explain that these rocks came from the middle from the Jordan River.

There have been many memorials both outside the people of God as well as within the word of God. However, what is the greatest memorial of all time? May I suggest that it is the Lord’s Supper that has been practiced by the people of God since the days of the First Century. It is the greatest memorial because it is living. It is not a statue that will crumble in time. It does not have to be maintained by workmen with trowels and with mortar. It is not a memorial that can be vandalized or destroyed by fire. But in the hearts of Christians, it is practiced and will be practiced as long as the world stands. It is thus the most widely observed memorial in the history of mankind.

It has certainly been abused over the years. There are those who say that the Lord’s supper should be observed only once every three months, instead of every week. There is one group, even here in Crystal Lake, that teaches that the Lord’s supper is to be made up of white bread and water. That is certainly a great abuse of the scriptures. There are some that teach that there is to be one cup that is to be passed around to everyone who is present. In spite of those abuses and those errors, the Lord’s supper still remains a beautiful ceremony. And if we will follow the scriptures, we know that these errors can be refuted.

This evening, let us look at the two main passages in the New Testament on the Lord’s Supper. The first is found here in Matthew 26. I would like to begin reading at verse 26 and read down through verse 29. Notice how the Lord’s supper was initially brought into existence by Jesus, just a few hours before the crucifixion was to take place.

Matthew 26:26-29:

And while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat: this is My body." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them saying, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. "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."

This passage describes the establishment of the Lord’s supper, and it was a very tense time. The Jewish leaders had already formulated their plans for the death of Christ. Judas had already made a bargain with them for the betrayal, so the atmosphere was very tense. It was also a time of farewell. The earthly ministry of Jesus was just about over, and here He is, calmly beginning or initiating the Lord’s supper.

We find that Jesus and the Apostles, here in Matthew 26, were actually celebrating the Passover. We can read more about this in Exodus 12, so we know that this is unleavened bread that they were using, and it was (the juice of the) fruit of the grapevine that was already there. So Jesus took these two simple emblems, unleavened bread and the fruit of the grapevine, and established a memorial that will always last until the Lord returns.

Notice in verse 26 is says that He took the unleavened bread; He gave thanks for it; He broke it; He passed it around and asked the Apostles to partake of it. In verse 27 He takes the grape juice, and He gave thanks for it and passed it around. And in passing these around, He explained that the bread represented His body that was being given on their behalf. The grape juice represented His blood that was about to be shed on their behalf. It is amazing that this is such a simple ceremony.

Unleavened bread and grape juice, these emblems can be found almost anywhere in the world. They are not expensive. Rich people can partake of the Lord’s supper. Poor people can partake of the Lord’s supper. It is not like trying to build a pyramid as a memorial. Regardless of income and regardless of location, we have a very simple ceremony dedicated to Jesus Christ and His sacrifice.

Some of our religious friends would try to teach us that when we partake of the Lord’s supper that the bread literally becomes His body and that the grape juice literally becomes His blood. This is known as the doctrine of trans-substantiation. Is it true that we literally eat the body and the blood of Jesus?

I want to show you something that I am very proud of. This is a picture of me with my grandson. I am sure you can see the resemblance there; the good looks and everything else that got passed on to him. I think it is a very fine photograph of Silas sitting in my lap. But notice again, this is me with my grandson, is it not? Not really. Not really. This is literally not me and Silas. Literally, this is just a piece of paper. There are some chemicals that have been applied to the paper and they have been exposed to a certain scene and they turn certain colors, so that this is literally not me and my grandson. It is literally a representation of my grandson and me.

In the same way that our friends say that the bread and the grape juice literally become the body and the blood of Christ, they are badly mistaken. It does not literally become a piece of the flesh of Christ nor a little cup of His blood. Number one, the New Testament forbids us from drinking blood. This is a part of the Gospel and you can read about this in Acts 15:29. So the idea of literally drinking the blood of Christ, as gruesome as it is, is also unscriptural. As Christians, we are not allowed to drink blood as a part of the new covenant. So the doctrine is wrong.

There is something else that makes it wrong, and that is that Jesus was still with them. He was still in His body. He still had His blood. Therefore, He could have not literally meant that this was His body and His blood. It was a representation of His body and a representation of His blood that He was about to shed. Therefore, with these emblems, these symbols, these representations of His suffering, He instituted the Lord’s supper here. And it was to be celebrated again as soon as the kingdom was established.

Would you please look with me at a second major passage, and this is I Corinthians 11:23-29. The Apostle Paul was trying to straighten out the mess that had taken place at the church of Corinth, involving the Lord’s supper and a fellowship meal, what we would call a potluck dinner. They were getting these all mixed up with each other and all kinds of abuses were taking place, so Paul had to straighten them out on the Lord’s supper.

I Corinthians 11:23-29:

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which 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 He took the cup also, 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. Therefore 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. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.

Let’s go back to verse 26 and notice what Paul is specifically saying here. In verse 26 he speaks of the purpose of the Lord’ s supper, and that is to remember the death of Jesus Christ until He returns. Obviously, Christ has not yet returned, contrary to what some or our religious friends are teaching today. Since He has not returned, we are to continue to partake of the Lord’s supper as a reminder of His death, and by extension, His resurrection. But also as a reminder that He will return!

So you might say that the Lord’s supper looks in two directions. It looks back to his death on the cross and it looks forward to His Second Coming. So in a sense it is both sad and happy. We are sad about his death but we are happy about the promise of His Second Coming. Notice in verse 27 he says that we are to partake of the Lord’s supper in a worthy manner. There are some very tender hearted Christians that sometimes think that this means that if there is sin in their lives that they cannot partake of the Lord’s supper. Beloved, that is not so. There will always be sin in our lives. If we have to be perfect to partake of the Lord’s supper, then we will never make it. We will never partake of the Lord’s supper. So when it says here that we are to partake of it in a worthy manner, he is not talking about what we have done the past week. Rather, he is writing about the problem at Corinth.

Let’s go back to verses 17-22, there isn’t time to read it all, but if you will notice those verses there, Paul tells how they were partaking of the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner. They were having some kind of fellowship meal; in the middle of it they were having the Lord’s supper and the rich folks were overeating. They were making pigs of themselves. They were going home drunk. The poor people were not getting any food at all. So they were going home hungry and angry. This is a shameful thing that was taking place. Imagine if we had the Lord’s supper in the middle of our fellowship meal this afternoon. Imagine the chaos it would cause. But add to that what was happening at Corinth, and that was the rich people were abusing all of the food there and the poor people were going home hungry. And so there was a real fight that was taking place in the congregation.

Notice in verse 17, Paul said they came together for the worse, in other words, not for the better. They were worse off for partaking of the Lord’s supper than being better off. In verse 18 he says the congregation is divided. In verse 20 he said that they did not even appreciate the Lord’s supper. Notice in verses 21 and 22, Paul said that it was chaos there. Total chaos and that it had to stop!

Therefore, in verse 27, Paul is saying that when we partake of the Lord’s supper it is not to be chaotic. It is not to be in an unworthy manner. That is what he is talking about. We are to be very reverent as we enter into this part of the worship, a reverent time; a time of great thoughtfulness. What an honor it is for men to be asked to pass the Lord’s supper in the assembly. They do it in such a dignified and orderly manner. This is not chaos in this auditorium when the Lord’s supper is passed. We meet back in the office before church, before the worship begins. All the men are aware of what we do back there, and that is we go over who is going to do what; how is it that it is going to be carried out; how is it going to be executed. Therefore, it is to be done in an orderly manner; in a worthy manner. So the Bible is saying here that we are to do it with great seriousness and do it in a worthy manner. What an honor it is to partake of the Lord’s service in a dignified way.

Notice in verse 28, Paul says that each one is to examine his or her own life. So as we think about the death of Christ and His Second Coming, we also look inwardly. It is a time for introspection. Did I really follow Christ this past week? Do I really appreciate the fact that Christ has saved me? Am I sorry for the sins that I have committed during the past week? What faults am I going to try to eliminate in the coming week? Am I humbled by the supper we are partaking of at this time? It is to be a reverent time in our worship; a time for thinking about the death of Christ and the second coming. It is also a time to examine our own lives to make sure that Christ would be proud of us.

In verse 28, Paul says that we are to examine ourselves. That rules out other people. It is not a time to look and see how other people are dressed. It is not a time to decide how so-and-so over there needs to straighten his life out. It is not a time to say to ourselves, "Well that person over there is a hypocrite;" or "that person over there needs to behave better." It is a time where we look at ourselves instead of looking at other people.

A few weeks ago a visitor asked me if they could partake of the Lord’s supper. That person was not a member here. This is a frequent question we get here with people passing through the area. When they understand that they are not members of the church, they ask if they can partake of the Lord’s supper. The answer at all churches of Christ that I’m aware of, is yes. We practice open communion, not closed communion. Open communion goes back to I Corinthians 11:28, and that is each one examines himself or herself. It is not a time to examine other people and, therefore, all are served the supper.

Notice again the seriousness of this as we see in verse 28 and 29. Notice how important it is to partake of the Lord’s supper in the right manner. If I understand verse 29 properly, if we abuse the Lord’s supper, that is if we take it with the wrong attitude, if it is partaken incorrectly, if there is chaos, disorder in the auditorium, verse 29 says that we are judging ourselves as being deserving of condemnation. God does not want us to partake of this in a flippant way.

Imagine that one of our children passed away and we had a memorial service for that young person. How would we feel if people misbehaved at that service? How would we feel if they passed notes, if they whispered, if they talked, if they did things that created disorder or noise in the auditorium? I think that is the message here in verse 29. God is very serious about this. We are to partake of this memorial service in a very reverent way.

Those are the two main passages on this subject. Sometimes people ask the question, "Is the Lord’s supper the most important of the five acts of worship?" Some people feel that it is, since we partake of the Lord’s supper only once a week, whereas some of the other acts we can partake of every day if we want to. Praying, for example, can be done any day of the week. Preaching of the Gospel can be done any day of the week. And yet the Lord’s supper is limited to Sunday. Some people say that his means it is the most important act of worship. I personally do not think it would be wise to say that the Lord’s supper is the most important act of worship. They are all equally important in the eyes of God. We can say that it is a great memorial, and it would be an awful thing for us to mess it up. As Christians sometimes miss the assembly for no good reason, what should haunt them is not just the fact that they missed the fellowship with the people of God, but that they missed the Lord’s supper on the first day of the week. That is a serious, serious sin. It is a glorious thing to partake of this memorial service.

When I was growing up, we always had our family reunions in Miami, Florida. That is where most of the Exums lived at the time, so we’d all pack up in Nashville and go down there. Cousins from other parts of the country would meet us down there for a week and we’d have a big reunion. I had an uncle who just passed away recently. He was a very wise man and a member of the church. I remember on one occasion when we were all preparing to leave Miami that morning to go back to our homes at various places in the country, he gave everybody a piece of chewing gum. He said at noon today let us all chew that gum and think about the reunion; think about the great times we had here this week. So as we departed and went on our way, we carried out his wishes as a way to bring about this memory of what all had taken place down there. Isn’t that what the Lord’s supper is? It is a reminder to Christians around the world that we are saved people. It is a reminder of the sacrifice that Christ made and the fact that he is coming again.

Sunday begins at the International Date Line, out in the middle of the Pacific. Let us think for a moment about how Christians around the world, in a sense, chew that piece of gum together on the first day of the week. The day begins in the islands in the middle of the Pacific where our brothers and sisters there first partake of the supper. Then our brothers and sisters in Japan and Okinawa and Korea and Hong Kong and the Philippines and Southeast Asia, our many brothers and sisters in India, partake of it next as the day moves through Central Asia. Our brothers and sisters in Jordan and Israel -- there are two congregations that I know of in Jerusalem -- our brothers and sisters there partake of it. In Syria and in Greece there are many thousands and thousands of Christians that we associate with. On the continent of Africa, they begin partaking of the Lord’s supper on Sunday morning. And the day moves through Europe as our brothers and sisters in Italy and Spain and France and Germany and Great Britain and the other countries of Europe partake of the Lord’s supper. And the sun moves across the Atlantic and hits the Maritime Provinces of Canada, where there are faithful congregations of the Lord’s people. It moves through the four time zones of the United States and across South America as we here in Crystal Lake partake of the Lord’s supper, and moves on out to the mountains and to those on Pacific time and on into the Pacific Ocean. What a great thought it is to consider all of the Christians around the world on this day who have partaken of the Lord’s supper, just as we have here at Crystal Lake. What a great privilege it is to be a part of this memorial; to think about Christ and also to examine ourselves and try to do better during the coming week.

Those are the principles concerning the Lord’s supper that we find in Matthew 26 and in I Corinthians 11. The Lord willing, next Sunday evening we will consider a second act of worship that God has authorized for our assemblies, so I hope that you will plan to be here for that lesson.

There may be someone here this evening who is not a member of the body of Christ and is looking forward to being in the family of God and legitimately partaking of the Lord’s supper on the first day of every week until you depart this life or until the Lord comes, which ever occurs first. It that is your desire, to be baptized into the family of God, we ask you to make that known to us while we stand and sing the next song.

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