Gospel In The Lord's Supper

The Gospel in the Lord's Supper

"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." 1 Cor 11:23-26

1. The Lord's Supper for today's church.

"For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." 1 Cor 5:7

In Christ's time, the daily meal in its simplest form consisted in eating bread and drinking a cup of wine. Into this one simple act, Christ gathered all the meaning of the ancient sacrifices and all the prophecies of His coming eternal kingdom. How appropriate that Jesus instituted this Holy Meal at the time of the feast of the Passover. Our Lord, with sovereign authority, brushed aside the old Passover in order to make room for the new.

As He broke the bread, so would our precious Lord be broken; and as the grape is crushed so that the juice may be poured forth, so would our precious Savior be crushed that His blood might be poured forth for our redemption. The cup speaks of the blood of Christ, which was shed for the remission of our sins; and the broken bread speaks of the broken body of our Lord, "by whose stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:4-5

2. Let's Examine the Meaning of the Lord's Supper

"For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes." 1 Cor 11:26

Not His life—though it was spotless. "Tempted as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15-16

Not His teaching—though never a man spake as He did. "God has spoken through the Son." Hebrews 1:1-3

Not His miracles—though He brought the healing balm of Gilead to lost mankind. Acts 2:22.

But His death! "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men (people) unto Me." John 3:14-15

His body—not glorious, but broken on the Cross. "but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." 1 Cor 1:23-24

His blood—not coursing through the veins of a king on a throne, but poured out for lost mankind. "how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Heb 9:14

3. The Lord's Supper confirms two things —His Death and His Second Coming.

God Himself paid the debt we could not pay. The Supper links the humiliation of the Cross with the royalty of the coming eternal Kingdom—the fact of the accomplished past and the promise of the assured future. It is the uniting of the believer's memory, which yet lingers around the Cross, and the believer's hope, which already rejoices in the coming eternal Kingdom. It is a sign as to the past, and is a seal as to the future.

4. Let's Examine the Sacredness of the Lord's Supper

It is the highest act of worship in the church, for with its observance we come nearest to the work and worship of heaven itself, where the Church worships God in the presence of the Lamb "slain from the world's foundation." Rev 13:8

"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." 1 Cor 11:27-28

"When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ?" 1 Cor 10:16 (NLT)

"All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen." Rev 1:5-6 (NLT)

We, the Church, join with all who worship in spirit (Spirit) and truth, of every tribe and tongue and nation. We lift Him up and we approach God our Father. When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim His death, Jesus our Lord, until He Comes in Glory! [1 Thess 4:14-18]