The What, Who and How of the Lord's Supper

Well, there are various reasons that we can tell it's Christmas or the Christmas season. One of them is the ladies are decorating. I looked at the flowers, the poinsettias. That is what they are, isn't it right? I don't know if it's for Christmas or they're trying to make me look better. I don't know. If you're trying to make me look better, ladies, it's not going to do any good. So it's Christmas. It's right around the corner. It's a good time of year. It's good to see you. It's good to be back. I say be back. I was gone for a whole week and it is good to be back. I've been looking forward to this service and this time together as always.

And I have had this kind of fight going on within me. Part of me wanted to look at the rest of Ephesians in that passage there in chapter 2 verses 1 to 10. But I felt like we needed to look at the Lord's Supper in a more in-depth way. It's been a while since we've done that. And I know I might have thrown some of you a curveball by not telling you where we're going. And I appreciate your patience there. Well, let's take our Bibles. Let's turn back to Matthew chapter 26. I did say earlier that we'll be in 1 Corinthians 11 as well. But we will start off in Matthew 26.

And I'll try to give you a heads up so you don't have to spend a lot of time trying to play catch up. But I do want us to read a few different portions of scripture, several verses in Matthew 26 and 1 Corinthians 11. Well, this morning we're coming together in worship and we're coming to prepare for the Lord's Supper. Now, in observing the Lord's Supper, I want you to see that we are doing a lot of different things and some of these things may surprise you. First of all, we are remembering that the Lord Jesus died for mankind on the cross. I think we know that.

But more specifically and more personally, we need to see that we are coming to remember that the Lord Jesus died specifically for us. Isn't that what Jesus said in the Gospels? Do this in remembrance of me. We're remembering the fact that Jesus died for us. Now, when I say that we're doing many things, what I mean is this. We start by remembering what our Lord has done for us and by properly remembering, we are able to move on into other spiritually significant matters. We are able to move on to worship in many other ways. So there are many things going on here in observing the Lord's Supper.

I think we all know that on the night that Jesus, when he instituted the Supper, he was doing many, many things. We read some of that earlier. There were many things going on. Jesus and his disciples had gathered together. They were celebrating faithfully the Passover as it was given and commanded in the Old Testament scriptures and in celebrating the Passover, they were commemorating their forefather's deliverance from slavery there in Egypt. Jesus was also teaching his disciples what the Passover pictured.

Jesus was teaching that he would give his body and his life blood to die just like thousands and thousands of Passover lambs had died before. And this was because he was the true Passover lamb of God. And where as the Passover commemorated Israel's deliverance from their physical slavery back in Egypt, the Lord's Supper speaks of the spiritual deliverance of God's people from their slavery to sin. And this deliverance was provided by Christ and not just by Christ, but by Christ's death on the cross. A couple of verses that will help you see this.

The writer of Hebrews says, "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins and he has appeared," that's Jesus, "once and for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." So the last Supper, the last Passover Supper, Jesus had with his disciples, he was commemorating and celebrating and worshiping the Passover. But he was also instituting what we call the Lord's Supper and as a celebration of his single sacrifice for sin. So there's a lot going on. There was a lot going on on that night when Jesus met with his disciples, they celebrated the Passover and he instituted the Lord's Supper.

Now this morning we're going to study the Lord's Supper by asking three questions. These questions may seem elementary, but I do believe these questions will help us go deeper. They'll help us cover some ground, maybe some ground that you know or some ground that you don't know. And no matter if we need a little reminding or no matter if we need some correction or if you're somewhere in between in your approach and knowledge of the Lord's Supper, I think what we look at this morning will be very good for us. Now our questions are simple, three words, what, who and how. Very simple words. What is the Lord's Supper? Now we won't be exhaustive.

We could spend volumes, hours discussing what the Lord's Supper is. The second question, who is to take the Lord's Supper? That's a very important question. And then how we should take the Lord's Supper. So what, what is the Supper? Who, who is to take the Supper? And then how, how should we approach and take the Supper? And that's the title of the message. The what, who and how of the Lord's Supper. The what, the who and the how of the Lord's Supper. So let's start with our first question. The what. What is the Lord's Supper?

We need to understand that the Lord's Supper is one of two ordinances that Jesus instituted and he gave to the church. One of two. These ordinances are believers baptism and the Lord's Supper. Some call the Lord's Supper communion. Some even call it a sacrament. Now neither one of those are necessarily incorrect, but we must see, we must recognize that some believe in what is called sacramentalism. We don't believe in sacramentalism. That is heretical. Simply sacramentalism teaches that a right relationship with Christ can somehow be attained by participating in the sacraments. Sacramentalism is really work salvation.

This is one of the errors of our Roman Catholic friends that they have embraced. One vitally important thing to remember is this. The Supper does not possess any saving qualities. No one can attain salvation by participating in the Supper. We can't even gain some kind of a type of favor with God by participating in the Supper. Now there's an important difference between the ordinance of baptism and the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. I've shared this with you before, but you need to see this. Baptism is practiced one time in a believer's life.

Baptism takes place at the beginning of the Christian life after one professes to be converted to Christ. In Acts 2, we see that Peter was preaching there on the day of Pentecost, and when that great crowd repented of their sin, they were converted to Christ, Peter called on them to be baptized as a sign of what had happened to them spiritually. Conversion to Christ is a one-time event, and baptism after conversion is a one-time event as well. But participating in the Lord's Supper is to be repeated. It's to be practiced all throughout the life of the believer and all throughout the life of the church.

We come to this belief and practice for two reasons. First from Jesus' commandment. Jesus commanded his disciples to remember his death through the Supper on a regular basis. We see this in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and we see this in 1 Corinthians 11. But the second reason, through example, in Acts 2, we see that the first church was devoted to the breaking of the bread. We know that passage, Acts 2.42. This is a reference to celebrating the Lord's Supper, and we see the Supper all throughout the rest of the New Testament.

Now this term, the Lord's Supper, that we are so familiar with, the term the Lord's Supper is only found one time in the New Testament, and that is in 1 Corinthians 11.20. Paul uses a similar term, the Lord's Table, in 1 Corinthians 10.21. This institution that the apostle calls the Lord's Supper is spelled out in four different places in the New Testament. We see the Lord's Supper spelled out in Matthew 26 starting in verse 26, in Mark 14 starting in verse 22, and Luke 22 starting in verse 12, and then in 1 Corinthians 11 starting in verse 23. Now the 1 Corinthians passage surprises some of you.

But we do not see the Lord's Supper in John's Gospel. This is just the way the Lord inspired the Scriptures. So the Supper, the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Table, you can use that term, is clearly explained in what is called the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and then there in 1 Corinthians. Now in asking the question, what is the Lord's Supper, it will be good for us to see the background. We read that, the background of the Lord's Supper. Now I'm not going to read all that we looked at earlier, but let's look at verse 17 to 19 in Matthew 26.

Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?" I think I said this earlier, Jesus fulfilled everything in the Old Testament Scripture and he obeyed everything in the Old Testament Scripture and he is obeying the Scriptures here. He said to them, "Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, 'The teacher or the rabbi, the teacher says, 'My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.'" And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover.

And not only did they prepare it, they participated in it in every way. That's the background. So here in Matthew, we see that before Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, he celebrated his last Passover meal with the disciples. I've already briefly explained that the Passover, what the Passover celebration was. But what is more important, what is important to see is that the Passover celebration, specifically the Passover lamb was a picture of Christ. It was a picture of his substitutionary death on the cross. John MacArthur helps us see how the two are different, but yet they are related. And I'm quoting John MacArthur here.

John MacArthur says, "The Passover looked back, the Passover looked back to the temporary rescue from physical bondage. And the Lord's Supper commemorates the eternal and spiritual deliverance provided through the new covenant. The lamb slaughtered during the Passover merely foreshadowed the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God who died on a cross to redeem sinners once and for all." Now all of this information is helpful. We see where the term the Lord's Supper comes from. We see the background of the Supper, which is the Old Testament, the Old Covenant Passover celebration. We see the very important differences between the two.

The Passover celebration looked back to a temporary deliverance from physical bondage, while the Lord's Supper commemorates the spiritual and eternal deliverance through Christ's sacrifice on the cross. And the Passover was a shadow. Think about that. It was a shadow of what was to come. Christ was and is the true and final Passover lamb to be sacrificed once and for all. The writer of Hebrews says it very well. But what is the Lord's Supper? You might say, "Pastor, you've been trying to tell us that." Well, I am. But let's narrow it down a little.

The Lord's Supper is an ordinance given by Christ to the church whereby believers remember the atoning sacrifice for sin made by Christ on the cross. The bread of the ordinance is symbolic of the body of Christ. And the wine or the juice is symbolic of the blood of Christ. Simply the Supper is a continual memorial for Christ's followers so as to reflect on the significance of Christ's death on the cross. Now I want to use that last statement to reflect on a few things. This last statement. The Supper is a continual memorial for Christ's followers, the church, believers so as to reflect on the significance of Christ's death on the cross.

For us, this is a time for us to remember Christ's death on the cross. This is a time for us to reflect on the fact that God's perfect Son died in the place for man. He died in the place for man and mankind, but more specifically and personally, He died in our place. He was that once and for all true in perfect sacrifice for sin. Not just for sin, but for our sin. Those of us who are in Christ. But earlier I said the Supper was a time of remembering, but more. And this leads me to ask a question. How can the Supper be more than what Christ commanded?

Didn't he just say, "Remember it?" So how can I say it can be more than what Christ commanded? It is more in that we remember how Christ saved us as well. You see? Yes, we remember His death. But that should compel us to remember how He saved us. And I'm very thankful that I can stand before you and share with you that I'm confident that the Lord has saved me. Years ago, February the 9th of 1989, God did what only God could do. He made me alive in Christ. He brought me from that place of death to life. I was lost and I was dead in my sin. But oh, the faithful work of God in me, He saved me.

So when I reflect back on what Christ did on the cross, I automatically have to remember what God did for me. And I'm thankful that I can say the same thing about my wife, that God saved her. And so as a family, my wife and I, we will remember what Christ has done for us. Yes, on the cross, He died in our place, but we will remember how that was appropriated in our life. He has saved us. It is real. It is experiential in our life. That's how it is more. So we see what the supper is. It is a continual memorial of the death of Christ on the cross and much more.

We remember how He saved us as we look in the supper and we participate in the supper. So we see what the Lord's supper is. That's the what question of the message. Let's continue. Our second question, number two, who is to take the Lord's supper? That's easy for you to remember. Who is to take the Lord's supper? Now to answer this question, we must look in two places in the scriptures, our Matthew passage, Matthew 26, and then our first Corinthians chapter 11 passage, both Matthew 26 and first Corinthians 11 will enable us to see who should take the supper or participate in the supper.

And this is very important folks, because I have seen so many churches and so many people blow it right here. First Matthew 26, Matthew shows us that Jesus gave this ordinance to who? To His disciples. Look at verse 20, starting in verse 20 on down to verse 30. When it was evening, He reclined at the table with the 12. Those are His disciples. And as they were eating, He said, "Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me." We know that's Judas. And they were sorrowful. They began to say to Him, one after another, "Is it I, Lord?

Is it I, Lord?" And He answered and He said, "He who dipped His hand in the dish with Me will betray Me." The Son of Man goes that it is written about Him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. Judas, who would betray Him, answered, "Is it I, Rabbi?" And Jesus said to Him, "You have said it so." And now as they were eating, who is this? These are the 12. Jesus took the bread and after He blessed it, He broke it and He gave it to who? To His disciples and He said, "Take it and eat it.

This is My body." And He took the cup and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them. This would be the 12 saying, "Drink of it all of you, for this is My blood, the blood of the covenant, the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin." But here we see that after the Passover celebration, Jesus leads His disciples into the first of the Lord's Supper. And He first takes the bread and He gives it to the disciples as a symbol of His body that would be broken. He then gives them the cup and He says, "This is a symbol of His blood that would be spilled out." And of course, this was a sign of what was to come.

His physical death on the cross was just hours away for the disciples and for Jesus. Now I mentioned earlier that the New Testament gives us four detailed accounts of the Supper, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 1 Corinthians. In Luke's account, we see some specifics that will help us here. Luke shows us that Jesus commanded His disciples to continue the Supper. In Luke 22, 19, it says that He took the bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it and He gave it to them saying, "This is My body which is given to you. Do this in remembrance of Me." So in Luke's account, we can see that this is not a one-time event, a one-time ordinance.

Luke also shows us who was a part of the group. You might say it was the disciples. That is the case, but notice who was a part of the disciples, traitor Judas. I call him traitor Judas. Luke 22 starting in verse 20, "And likewise the cup after they had eaten saying, 'This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.' And behold, the hand of Him who betrays me is in it with me." Here at the table, isn't that what the verse says? And Luke gives us this detail on purpose. This was a part of God's predetermined plan and this might surprise you. This was not a mistake. Judas was not some kind of an intruder here.

This was not a mistake. This was a part of God's purpose and plan. Now Luke shows us, and Matthew shows us as well that even traitor Judas was there. So Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we see that Jesus gave the ordinance to the disciples and these disciples are to me representative of all of the first believers and we should see that they are representative of all believers of all times. Then second, 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 11, it helps us see that this ordinance was given to the church. If you would turn over to your 1 Corinthians 11 passage. I want to read verses 23 to 26.

Paul's writing to the church there at Corinth and he says, "For I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it." That's the bread. "And he said to them, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, he also took the cup after the 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.

Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then. And so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak, many of you are ill or sick, and some of you have even died,' he says." Here we see that Paul gives to the Corinthian church, notice what he received from the Lord. Isn't that what verse 23 says? He says, "This is what I received from the Lord." But notice what Paul is giving them.

He is giving the Corinthian church exactly what is seen and taught in the Gospels. He is giving them the ordinance of the Lord's Supper as given by Jesus. This is more significant than you know because most Bible scholars believe that the letter of 1 Corinthians was written before any of the other Gospels. So most likely, this account in 1 Corinthians is the first written record of the Lord's Supper. So in 1 Corinthians, we see that the Apostle Paul gives the New Testament church this ordinance which was given to him by Jesus.

Again, this was not a one-time event, this was not a one-time ordinance just for his disciples, but we see here that this was for the New Testament church as well. Now all this information is important. We see who is to take the Supper. These are individuals who have been converted to Christ, the disciples, and then the church. Another question, was not Judas lost? Wasn't Judas unregenerate? Wasn't Judas a traitor, a lost man, unregenerate? And were all of those Corinthians there in the church at Corinth, were all of them saved? The answer was no. And how do we account for this? What do we do with this reality?

The fact that Judas was there and the fact that there were some in the Corinthian church who were unconverted, because Paul deals with this reality at the end of the 2 Corinthians letter. But I want us to see here, the Lord's Supper is for the church, but within the church on earth there are those who are not redeemed. The church on earth is not perfect, folks. Get that. There are tares among the wheat. We've learned that on Wednesday nights in our study through the kingdom parables. There are goats among the sheep. The church will always have within her walls those who are not truly born again.

That is just the reality of the church in our day because of sin and the reality of the false convert that is within the church. Now at this point I want to ask a question. Are you a part of the church? Now I'm not talking about a certain church or a church membership role. I'm not talking about that. I'm asking this. Have you been converted to Christ? Has God saved you from your sin? Have you trusted in Christ? Have you believed in Christ? Have you been converted to Christ? Because see that's how you become a member of the church universal. You see? And if the answer to that question is this, well then you are a part of the church.

I was texting a friend of mine who was an elder at Grace Life Church in Prior, Oklahoma. His name is Jason Cummings. Jason is bi-vocational. He is a law enforcement officer by day and an elder, pastor in the life of Grace Life Church there in Prior, Oklahoma. He does that by night if I can use that expression. But you know Jason came to faith in Christ, lives in another town, lives in another county, lives in another part of the United States, but he is a part of the church. Why? Because he's been converted to Christ. Now how do I know that? I've heard him speak about it.

There is a church there that attest to the reality of his conversion to Christ. And what I'm showing you is this. There are people all around the world who have been converted to Christ and they are members of the church. You know when you visit another church and you meet other believers, men and women, young or old, even if you can't speak their language, you meet brothers and sisters and you realize, "Wait a minute.

We're all a part of one big family." It's been a while since I've been out of the country, but when I went on an anchored in truth missions trip to the Philippines, I met all kinds of Filipino pastors and members of different churches. And you know before long I found something out. They were vetting me. They wanted to know what I believed. They wanted to know about my doctrine, my doctrinal statements, who my heroes were, what I preached about my church, about youth. They wanted to know all about me and before long I realized, "Wait a minute. They had a spotlight on me." But what I found out was this. Oh, they loved the Lord. They loved me.

They loved you. They are members of the universal church, you see? So I must ask you, are you a part of the church or are you a Judas? I've said this often. I know I'm using my imagination. I think most of you know how impulsive Peter was. He was the hot head of the bunch. I have to believe that if Peter knew Judas was the traitor's sellout, I just don't believe Judas could have gotten up and walked away from that table. He looked that good, folks. Judas kept the money back. He was the church treasure if I can use that language. And so what I'm asking you is this. Are you a Judas? And we must see who is to partake of the supper.

And no matter how hard we try, there will be some who are not converted, even the Judas who will participate. Now the third question, how? How should we take the Lord's supper? Now all of these questions have been important. What is the Lord's supper? Who is to take the Lord's supper? And most likely we all relate to this information differently. I get that. For some of you here, the question, what is the supper? That was really needed for you. And then for some of you, the question, who is to take the Lord's supper? That was really needed for you. But truthfully, this is where many pastors can get into error. And what I mean by that is this.

Many pastors and many churches miss who should take the supper and how it should be taken. Now to deal with this question, how? We need to look at our 1 Corinthians 11 passage again, starting in verse 27. I know I read part of this earlier, but I want to read verse 27 on down to verse 34. And this is opening our eyes now to the Corinthian problem. Verse 27, Paul says, "Whoever therefore eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then. And so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself." This is why many of you are weak. Many of you are sick or ill. And some of you have even died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we were judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then my brothers, when you come together to eat, talking about the supper, wait for one another. That was one of the sins they were committing.

If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home so that when you come together, it will not be for judgment about the other things I will give directions when I come. That's Paul saying, "I've got more sermon to give you when I get there." Now we really need to understand and get what's happening here. There is a problem in the Corinthian church with the supper. Verse 27 tells us that they were taking the supper in an unworthy manner, which means they were taking the supper with sin in their hearts and sin in their lives. Really they were taking the supper with great sin in the church.

Verse 29 tells us that they were bringing judgment upon themselves because they were taking the supper with sin in their lives and sin in the church. This means that they were actually sinning against Christ. They were bringing judgment on themselves. Verse 30 tells us some were sick, they were ill, some were even dying from this sin. Their offenses towards God were so grievous that God had literally put the worst offenders to death. Verses 33 and 34, it's simply a summary of Paul correcting them. So this is the Corinthian situation. They were eating and they were drinking judgment on themselves because they were abusing the supper.

But out of these verses we will see how we should take the supper. First, Paul is saying to the Corinthians they should have examined themselves. That was verse 28 says they should have examined themselves. Here we have a key word, examine. We see this in the King James in the English Standard Version. This word means to prove, it means to test. In their day, in their culture, this word was used of a metal worker who tested a metal to see if it was genuine or if it was fake. And Paul was calling on these people to examine themselves, examine their lives on many levels. He was calling them to examine their attitude towards the supper.

Did they think wrongly about the supper? Paul knew that their attitudes determined their actions and oh they had some bad attitudes folks. He was calling them to examine their approach to the supper. Were they being casual? Were they being ritualistic? Were they approaching the supper in the wrong manner? And oh they were approaching the supper in a wrong manner. And he was calling on them to examine their actions in partaking of the supper. Were they taking the supper with sin in their hearts and sin in the church? They most definitely were.

So Paul was calling them to examine their attitude, their approach, and their actions in taking the supper. So Paul is saying that they should have examined themselves before they took the supper. And then second, they should have judged themselves. Paul says they should have examined themselves in verse 28. And now he says they should have judged themselves in verse 31. Again we have another key word, the word judge. This word can mean examined. It can mean discerned. Paul is saying that if they had examined themselves and come to the correct judgment before then they would not be under God's judgment.

He is showing them that they had a responsibility to judge themselves correctly which could have and should have and would have led them to repentance, a lot of repentance. Paul is showing them that they should have judged themselves before God had to judge them. So Paul is saying that they should have judged themselves before they came to the supper. They should have judged themselves before God had to judge them. So it is necessary to at least glance at this Corinthian situation, this Corinthian problem. This helps us see the outcome of not approaching the supper correctly.

They were guilty of approaching and taking the supper in an unworthy manner. Because of their sin, they had brought judgment upon themselves. According to verse 29, so many were sick and so many of them were weak and so many, there were some that had even died. It seems that some, maybe many, were under the actual judgment of God here. But what do we see here? We see a lot of God's grace. This might surprise you. Through Paul, God is calling them to examine themselves. Isn't that what we see in verse 28? God is calling them to come to a correct judgment concerning themselves. In verse 31, "And God is calling them to repentance.

And any call by God to a believer or a church for repentance is grace." And for us, we should do the same. We should examine. We should judge ourselves individually and corporately. Yes, on two levels. Now, I'll speak to you about the corporate. I'll speak to you about the corporate first. If we as a church had known corporate sin, we should deal with that sin before we lead you to partake in the supper. And I can speak for Brother Keith and I can also speak for other men in the life of the church. We discuss spiritual matters often. And what I will say to you is this, we have no known sin in the life of our church.

Now do we have shortcomings? Yes. Are there areas we're working towards? Yes. Are there areas of strength and areas of weakness? Yes. We're always going to have that. We're talking about known rebellion and disobedience. No, we do not have that. But individually. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. As believers, individual believers, we should listen to the work of the Spirit of God in our lives. If we have sin in our lives, we should address that. We should deal with that sin. We should repent and make restitution as we need to.

And you know from me, there have been times in my life where I have come to the Lord's table, where I've come to the supper and I have known there are some things in my life that need to be straightened out and I have let the cup go by. I have let the bread go by. But I want to ask you a couple of questions here. I've asked you these questions before. And we need to ask these because these can be a terrible hindrance for some. I have wrestled here before. What do you do when something is not black and white? Maybe when a relationship is broken. What do you do when you are not right with an individual?

We dealt with this the other night in our men's small group and it was really, really good. We were dealing with the area of forgiveness and forgiving those who have wronged us and forgiving those we have wronged us. See that can be very difficult. And there can be times when others have wronged us, they have hurt us and we wrestle with that. And what we do is we get to the place with the leadership and the work of the spirit, whereby we are confident that we've done all that we can do and then we have to just let it go. We cannot force others to repent to us. We cannot force others to make things right.

And even if they never appear, even if they continue to hate you and persecute you and wrong you, you have to forgive. You have to forgive. And that can be very difficult, especially when you're coming to the Lord's table. But what do you do when there is sin that you know should be dealt with? And it is within your control. Well, you deal with it. You deal with it. You do the best you can. You work hard at it. I have known people that couldn't make a face-to-face visit and they've written a letter. They picked up the phone. They've done what they can do to make things right. And what we must see is this.

There are things that are beyond our control. We do the best that we can and we have to have the leadership of the spirit in our lives. And then there are things that are within our control and that helps us see how we should take the supper, you see. So we have seen what the supper is. It's a continual memorial. Now that phrase might sound odd to you. It is a continual memorial. It is a continual remembrance to reflect on the significance of Christ's death on the cross. Now folks, let me pause there. Did we ever mind the depths of remembering and contemplating the significance of Christ's death on the cross? No, we never can.

And then also the supper is for those who have trusted in Christ for their salvation. It was given to God's people, His church, and it is a means of worshiping Christ for the redemptive work, His redemption on the cross. And this is not to be done in sin. This is not to be done in disobedience in our life. His people are to come humbly, walking in obedience to Christ and remembering the death of Christ on the cross and all that that death means to them in their life, you see. Now I want to close by giving three points of instruction. This is for the rest of the day when you dismiss.

When you go into your home, you're going to go home and you're going to eat lunch and be with your family, I trust. And this is instruction to prepare us for coming back tonight. First, talk about what the supper is with your family, what it is. You with your wife, sir, with your wife, ma'am, with your husband, you talk about it. Talk with your children. Men, take the lead here. Husbands take the lead. Talk about what it is. Make sure your wife and your children know that the supper is a continual memorial, a continual remembrance for us as God's people. And we are reflecting on the significance of Christ's death on the cross.

And in talking about what the supper is, husbands and wives, share how God has saved you. Share how what this means for you today, husbands and wives. You do this with your family. And then second, talk about who is to participate in the supper. Listen, it is for the redeemed. It is for the saved. And listen, if your children are not converted to Christ, show them that they are not to participate. And, oh, I have seen so many lower the standard here. They should observe it by watching. They should pray that God would lead them to repentance.

And look, you should urge them that they come and look at what's going on in the supper and that they should look to Christ. Parents, fathers, mothers, use the supper to tell your children about Christ and their need for Christ. And remember, there are four types of people involved in the supper. First, the truly redeemed. Second, the traitor. There are some among us who will turn out to be traitors. Yes, some among us. One day, if we're all together long enough, you will look up and there will be people that you know you thought they loved God. We thought they loved God and they've turned out to be a traitor.

Then third, there's the Corinthian Christian among us who needs to clean up their life. They've got sin. They've got some things in their life they need to clean up. And then fourth, the Corinthian who loves sin and loves the world. See that was one of the big problems with the Corinthian church. They loved the world. They brought the world into the church and there are some here you love sin, you love the world and you need to be saved out of that. And then third, talk about how we should participate in the supper. When you're at home with your family, talk about how we should participate in the supper.

We should examine our own lives and those in our families, husbands. It starts with you, starts with us, husbands and wives. This is up to you. Examine your lives, examine your lives and make the proper judgments in relation to sin that could be in your life. And with the word of God and the Holy Spirit of God, husbands and wives, you can examine your lives, you can examine your home accordingly and with God's help, you can make the proper judgment before God. Listen before God, before God brings judgment on you.

So Grace Life Church, I'm calling you to take the what, the who and the how of the Lord's Supper and I'm calling you to take it home with you today and to come back tonight to participate in the supper. Well, let's pray. seeing a closing verse or two and then I'll make a few comments.