What does it mean to participate in the Lord's Supper?

Well, I have to make a confession to you. Normally I open up my message by saying, "Please turn in your Bible." I'm not doing that this morning. Like I said earlier, we're going to have an overview. I'll reference quite a few other portions of Scripture besides what I read in our Scripture reading. Some of you are good note takers, and if you have trouble following me, I'll be glad to help you. More than anything, I want us to get all of these things with our minds and in our hearts. And of course, going back and studying on our own is a part of that. So if you need some help with that, I'll be glad to help you.

Now before we celebrate and partake in the Lord's Supper, I want us to ask a question. This would really be the title of the message, the heart of the message. And the question is this, what does it mean to participate in the Lord's Supper? Now if we were raised going to church, then we probably grew up protecting in the Lord's Supper or seeing others protecting the Supper. Now I know that some of you did not grow up in a Baptist church, so you were probably taught certain positions and traditions concerning the Lord's Supper. Here at Grace Life, I have taught on the Lord's Supper many times and in many different ways.

We have protected in the Lord's Supper many different times throughout the years. But a question that we need to ask and a question that we ask from time to time here at Grace Life Church is this, what does it mean when we participate in the Supper? Actually the Scriptures teach us that the Lord's Supper has quite a bit of meaning. And if we understand what the Supper means, then participating in the Supper should have great spiritual meaning and great spiritual significance to all of us. That is what we'll look at this morning.

And I want us to see what the Scriptures say about the Lord's Supper and what participating in the Supper should mean to us as true born again believers. Now we need to understand that Jesus instituted and He gave His church two ordinances. That would be believers baptism and the Lord's Supper. And the fact that we believe in and practice these two ordinances are seen by the fact that they are a part of our church statement of faith. Many of you have our statement of faith. If you look at section 8 there you can see our statement on the two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper.

And of course we clearly see these two ordinances in the New Testament Scriptures otherwise they would not be a part of our church confession and we would not practice these in the life of the church. And it was during the last Passover celebration, our Passover feast that Jesus had with His disciples that He instituted and He gave the Lord's Supper. You see this in Matthew, Mark and Luke's account. Of course we read from Luke's account earlier in our Scripture reading. Now some of you will know this and some of you may not but the backdrop of the Lord's Supper was and is the Jewish Passover.

As a matter of fact the Passover lamb was a picture of and a foreshadowing of Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. And a big part of the Passover was feasting. Feasting was a part of all of the Jewish festivals as well and their feasting in these festivals included food and drink. Of course that's what a feast is. And all of the festivals had different spiritual meaning but they all involved some sort of eating before the Lord. Now that phrase may sound strange to you. These festivals they all involved some form of eating before the Lord. And besides these festivals eating before God was common all throughout the Old Testament.

I'll mention a few. Some of you may not have ever thought about this. If we go back before the fall of man we see that Adam and Eve were free to eat of all of the fruits of the garden for food except for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They had a great abundance of food that was given to them by God and before Adam and Eve would sin against God they lived in perfect fellowship with God in every way. And since they had perfect fellowship with God everything that they did was in the presence of God and that included eating and drinking totally unhindered before God.

And under the Old Covenant the Israelites were to give a tithe of one tenth of all of their crops. Deuteronomy 14, 23-26 we see that they were to bring one tenth of all of their crops to God and then they were to eat and drink their tithe before God even in the presence of God. And when the people of Israel were camped before Mount Sinai after God had given them the Ten Commandments God called the leaders up onto the mountain to meet with Him. Exodus 24, 9-11 says that Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the 70 elders of Israel went up before God and they ate and they drank in the presence of God.

And with just a few of those examples we can see that in the Old Testament God's people ate and they even feasted before God. We can even say that they feasted in the very presence of God. And notice this took place before sin entered the world and this took place after sin entered the world. And one important fact about all of the Old Testament feasts including the Passover is this. All the Old Testament feasts, sometimes they are called festivals, all of them pointed to the fact that sin was not yet paid for. You might say pastor how can you know that?

Those the animal sacrifices offered in those festivals were offered year after year after year without end. And these never ending sacrifices all look forward to the Messiah of God who was to come to take away sin once and for all. Those never ending sacrifices pointed to the promised Messiah of God who was to take away sin once and for all. In the Hebrews 10 verses 1-4, "For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it," that would be the law, "can never by the same sacrifices that are continuously offered every year make perfect those who draw near.

Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshippers having once been cleansed would no longer have any consciousness of sin, but in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." So the Old Covenant sacrificial system pointed to the Messiah that was to come to take away sin. And notice the difference in the Old Covenant sacrificial system and the Lord's Supper. The Old Covenant sacrificial system pointed to the Messiah that was to come to take away sin.

But the Lord's Supper reminds us that God's Messiah did in fact come and His payment for sin has already been accomplished fully. Listen to Hebrews again. Hebrews 10 verses 8-12. When He said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings. These were offered according to the law. Then He added, "Behold, I will come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will He have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

And every priest stands daily at His service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He, that's Christ, sat down at the right hand of God. So as born-of-again believers, we eat, we participate in the Lord's Supper in the very presence of God, how, with great celebration, remembering what Christ has accomplished on the cross for us. And we do these things with hearts filled with praise and worship and celebration before God.

We are not like those O covenant Jews who celebrated their feasts and festivals looking forward for the promised Messiah that would take away the sin of men. He has come and He has provided redemption for men and men. So those of us who have been redeemed by His blood, we can eat the Supper with great celebration, with great worship, remembering what Christ has done for us. Now at this point I want to explore real quickly seven facts that show us the meaning of the Supper when we actually partake in the Supper. Seven facts that show us the meaning of the Lord's Supper when we partake in the Supper together.

So first, when we participate in the Supper, we are actually proclaiming the death of Christ. When we participate in the Supper, we are actually proclaiming the death of Christ. As a church and as individual believers, when we participate in the Lord's Supper, we symbolize the death of Jesus because what we do in the Supper pictures the death of Christ right before us. Now think with me what is pictured before us. The broken bread is a symbol of Christ's broken body and the cup is a symbol of Christ pouring out His life blood for us. Now let me repeat that. So there is no misunderstanding.

The broken bread is a symbol of Christ's broken body and the cup is a symbol of Christ pouring out His life blood for us. Now why do I repeat that? That is because some are in error here. Some believe that in the ordinance of the Supper the bread actually becomes the body of Christ and the juice in the cup actually becomes the blood of Christ and that is an error. It is important to see that the bread is a symbol of Christ's broken body, His flesh. And the juice in the cup is a symbol of Christ's life blood that was poured out for us.

And when we participate in the Supper, we not only symbolize Christ's death, but we are actually proclaiming the death of Christ. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11.26. Speaking of the Supper, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." I'll give you an example that may help you. As Americans on or around the 4th of July, we may symbolize our patriotism by certain things that we do. Now think about it. When we symbolize our patriotism, we are actually proclaiming our patriotism.

I remember when I was a kid growing up on Platyola Circle there in South Laurel, my dad would always put out an American flag on the porch of our house. Now what was my dad doing? He was proclaiming his patriotism. Now when it comes to illustrations like I've just mentioned, they usually break down at some point. Illustration can only go so far, but it is very similar when we participate in the Supper. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper in a service like this, and when we partake in the Supper as a church and as individual believers, we are proclaiming the very death of Christ.

And for us, we need to understand that we here today are actually proclaiming Christ's death when we participate in the Supper. And it is also sad for those of you who are not converted to Christ, you cannot participate. You cannot proclaim Christ's death. Oh if you're not honest or if you're misled, you may participate, but the non-believer cannot truly participate, nor can the non-believer truly proclaim the death of Christ. And then second, when we participate in the Supper, we are actually benefiting from Christ's death. When we participate in the Supper, we are actually benefiting from Christ's death.

Now at the time when Jesus first instituted the Supper, He commanded His disciples to take and eat the broken bread and to take and drink the cup. And when we as a church and individual believers do the very same thing, we are actually benefiting from Christ's death. Now notice how this all comes together. When we participate in the Supper, we are symbolizing what Christ did on the cross, and we are proclaiming His death. We've already seen that, those facts. And we are also proclaiming that we are benefiting from Christ's death. Now how do we benefit? Because we are proclaiming that Christ died in our place.

Because we are proclaiming that we have identified with His death, and we have taken an actual possession of His death. Paul says it best in Galatians 2.20. He says, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In the life I now live, in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Another example that may help us to a point. In our culture, Memorial Day is a time when we honor those who died in military service while performing their duty. Actually when we honor those who died in the service, we are proclaiming that we have benefited from their sacrifice.

Isn't that right? When we properly honor those who have died in the service of our country, we are saying that we are beneficiaries of their death. Again, illustration can only go so far. But it is similar when we take the Supper. When we take the Supper, we are seeing afresh and anew the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. And that we are benefiting from Christ's death. For those of you who have been born again, think for a minute where you were before you came to saving faith. Think for a minute about what your life could be like had you not come to saving faith. When I think about that, I have about 10 panic attacks.

Just ponder for a minute how you have benefited from Christ's death since you came to saving faith. Christ saved you from your sin in your sinful life. Christ saved you to a new life that you have in Christ. He saved you for God's purposes and God's glory in life. And Christ saved you to be with Him forever. Not that you will be happy in heaven. Folks banish that from your mind. Christ didn't save you just so you will be happy in heaven. Christ saved you so that you would worship Him in glory for forever. It is not about you in heaven. It is not about me. It is about Him.

And then third, when we participate in the supper, we are actually taking in spiritual nourishment. When we participate in the supper, we are actually taking in spiritual nourishment. Now earlier I talked about food and feasts. As a matter of fact, some of you may have already started thinking about lunch. Well, we are not quite there yet. From Adam and Eve in the garden, to Moses on Mount Sinai, to the Passover meal with Jesus and His disciples. In all of those events, I referenced food and even feasting. And in these events, those who participated actually ate physical food that benefited their physical bodies. Think about it.

A couple of Sundays ago, we enjoyed our usual first Sunday fellowship and we ate good food that benefited our bodies. But as a matter of fact, some of you benefited too much. Notice I said you, not me. And just as food and drink benefits the body, the Lord's Supper brings about nourishment as well. But the Lord's Supper brings about spiritual nourishment, spiritual benefits, not physical. Now I know this idea may seem strange to us, but we see this in scripture.

In John 4, when the disciples brought food to Jesus while they were traveling through Samaria, Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work." That's verse 34. And what Jesus meant was this. He received spiritual nourishment from doing the will of His Father and from accomplishing the work for which He came. And in John 6, 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 you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise Him up on the last day." That's verse 53 and 54.

Jesus is saying that to possess spiritual life, His followers must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Now this is not about physical food. This is not some form of cannibalism. We know that. Jesus was and is talking of spiritual nourishment and spiritual nourishment is gained when we participate in the Lord's Supper. Another example. When we get married and when we have children, we enjoy a type of nourishment. Now think about it. A desire for marriage and a desire for children are given by God and the hunger for those things in the life are given. Those things are given by God.

And when we get married and we have children, we enjoy those things. We might be broke, yes. So we are nourished by those things. Isn't that right? Look at how many people are starving for a husband or a wife. Look at how many couples are starving because they want children and they cannot have them biologically. So when we as God's people participate in the Supper, we are taking in and actually enjoying spiritual nourishment. We are taking in spiritual nourishment that can only come from Him.

And just as Jesus said, just as Jesus said that doing the will of His Father brought Him spiritual nourishment, we should look forward for spiritual nourishment this morning in all that we do here in the message and especially for taking in the Supper. And then fourth, when we participate in the Supper, we are actually enjoying unity with other believers. When we participate in the Supper, we are actually enjoying unity with other believers. As a local church, when we participate in the Supper together like we will this morning, we are speaking to the unity that we enjoy one with another.

Now this is something that we must first understand and second we must build over time. Paul speaks to this kind of unity in 1 Corinthians 10, 16 to 17. Listen to what Paul says. The couple blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread. And notice what we see here in 1 Corinthians 10. It is Christ's body that symbolizes our oneness with Christ and our oneness with each other.

It is because we are one with Christ that we the many can truly be one with each other. And when we as a church that is made up of many different individuals participate together in taking the Lord Supper, we are enjoying our unity with Christ and our unity with each other. Another example. When a man and a woman are married, the scriptures say the two become one. Genesis 2, 24 specifically says, two shall become one flesh. Now all throughout the years I have said that God would fail math class. One plus one does not equal one. But we know God does not make mistakes. But think about it.

In a marriage, does that mean that there is only one body? Does that mean that the wife gives up her body for her husband's body? No. What happens in marriage is that the two individuals become unified in a supernatural and spiritual way. The marriage couple enjoys a oneness or a unity. And that unity is understood in the beginning of the marriage, but it is understood more and more and more all throughout the marriage and all throughout time. So when we participate in the Supper, we are proclaiming the unity that we have with Christ and one with one another. We are actually enjoying our unity with the body and with each other.

And look, for me as a pastor, there are many things that I enjoy about our church. As a matter of fact, nothing brings me grief. But the one thing that brings me almost the greatest joy is the true Christian unity that we are experiencing and the unity that is growing among us all. And I want you to know church, the Christian unity that we enjoy today is rare and it is worth fighting for. And notice when we participate in the Supper, we are enjoying a unity with Christ and we are enjoying a unity with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and in the church.

Now take a step back for a moment and look at the great meaning of the Lord's Supper and look at how all of this is very personal, how very personal and real these things are. When we participate in the Supper, we are proclaiming Christ's death and we are proclaiming that we have and will continue to benefit from Christ's death. Also when we partake in the Supper, both personally and corporately, we are taking in great spiritual nourishment if we are nourished on an individual basis that nourishment continues throughout the entire church.

And when we participate in the Supper, we are enjoying a great spiritual unity with brothers and sisters with each other and we are even growing in that oneness as we worship together and participate in the Supper. Now if I stop right there, some of you may say that this has been a good message on the meaning of the Supper. And many of you would say that you are spiritually ready for the Supper. I have no doubt that you are. But there are a few more things that we need to see here. When we partake in the Supper, we see and we enjoy certain spiritual affirmations. Certain spiritual affirmations.

First when we participate in the Supper, Christ is affirming His love for us. When we participate in the Supper, Christ is affirming His love for us. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 26, 26. He says, "Do this in remembrance of me." And Paul repeats what Jesus said there in 1 Corinthians 11, 24. And what we see here is this. Not only does Jesus command His people to participate in the Supper, but He lovingly invites His people to spiritually come to Him in the Supper. The Supper is a reminder that Jesus loved and loves His people by dying in their place.

So participating in the Supper is an affirmation of the love that Christ has for His people. Another example. Husbands and wives. Husbands and wives. Isn't that what we should do on our anniversary? On our anniversary, shouldn't we affirm afresh and anew our love for one another? Me and you better. If you don't, you're in trouble and you might be calling me for a little marriage counseling. Honestly, during our small group study on marriage, we should be, and we have been affirming our love for our spouses all throughout the study. I've heard good testimonies there.

But in our marriage, we should affirm our love for our spouses at certain times and often. Well, it is the same in the Supper. When we participate in the Supper, Christ is affirming His love for us, and we should see and experience that affirmation. And when we do, it is wonderful. And then second, when we participate in the Supper, Christ is affirming the many blessings of salvation which are for us. When we participate in the Supper, Christ is affirming the many blessings of salvation which are for us. Now, think about what we have just seen. When we participate in the Supper, we are affirmed of Christ's love for us, but there is more.

The next step is that we should be affirmed of Christ's many blessings to us and upon us. Specifically, we see afresh and anew that Christ provided the blessing of salvation for us. And generally, we see that the blessings of salvation brings blessings in the life that are far too many to count. Another example. Think about our children. Do we not affirm our love for them and to them? We should. Let me pause here. Man, make sure you affirm your children and you affirm your love to them by what you say and what you do. They need to hear that and see that.

But do we not let them know that we love them and we will provide for them and we will meet all of their needs, even some of their wants, even to the degree that they could never list them? Well, it is the same when we take the Supper. When we participate, Christ is affirming and reaffirming to us the blessing of salvation and all of the many blessings that come from salvation in the life that we have with Christ. It's far too much to list. And then third, when we participate in the Supper, we are affirming our personal faith in Christ. When we participate in the Supper, we are affirming our personal faith in Christ.

Now, this really should be the first thing on our minds. When we come to the Supper, we are affirming our need for Christ as our Savior. We are affirming His death on the cross, which was a death for us. We are affirming our personal trust in Christ for our salvation. We are affirming that there was a time in our lives when we were convicted of our sin. We were drawn to faith in Christ. We repented of our sin and we placed our faith in Christ and we trusted Him for our salvation. I have shared with you my testimony throughout the years, but for me that took place many years ago when I was 20 years old.

I can tell you how God worked in my life and He brought me to faith in Christ. I can tell you how God put Christians in my family who began to pray for me and share the gospel. I can tell you how I lived before and what it was like when I came to faith in Christ and the new life that He gave me after I came to faith in Christ. So when I participate in the Supper, I am affirming my personal faith in Christ. I am affirming the fact that God has saved me and He is my personal Lord and Savior. And it should be the same for you. When you participate in the Supper this morning, you should be affirming your personal faith in Christ.

You should be affirming the fact that God has saved you and you are living in that salvation. And folks, if you have not come to faith in Christ, I invite you to come to Christ this morning. Come to Christ. Leave your sin. Leave your old life behind. Be willing to die to your sin and to who you are. Be willing to repent of all that you have done, all that you ever will do and all that you are. Be willing to come to faith in Christ and receive what only Christ can give and that is a new heart, a new life and a life that can be lived for His glory.

Now at this point, I believe that with God's help, we all have a better understanding of what it means to participate in the Lord's Supper. If we have worked hard to truly grasp what I have taught, we all have a better understanding of what it means to come to the table, the Lord's table. Now before I move into the Supper, I want to give us some spiritual but practical instructions. At this time in the life of our church, we practice open communion and that means that you do not have to be a member of Grace Life Church of Brookhaven to participate in the Supper.

But you do have to be a professing believer that lives out your profession of faith. You have to be able to articulate when you came to faith in Christ, what happened when you came to faith in Christ and how you have lived for Christ since you came to faith. And if you cannot express when you came to faith in Christ and how you have lived for Christ since you have come to Christ, you really do not need to participate. I have said it like this throughout the years, this is the spiritual honor system. I can't look into your heart. It's not my job. You have to profess these things. But that leads me to ask a question.

How do we deal with our children and our teenagers? Parents, this is where the leadership of the church trusts you. Parents, if you are confident that your child or teenager has come to saving faith and you see them living out their salvation with fear and trembling, then you can allow them to participate. If you see saving faith in their life and they are living out their faith, then you should encourage them to participate. But if you do not see those things in your child's life, they should not participate. You should explain to them that those things are not for them.

And if you do not think they understand the significance of these things, maybe you think they need more teaching, maybe they need a little counsel about what these things mean, maybe they don't need to participate. But at this time, I want to pray and take what we've studied. I want to commit these things to the Lord and then we'll transition into enjoying, celebrating, and participating in the supper together.