THE LORD’S Supper is clearly a New Testament practice that the early disciples kept, as its significance is tied into the end of the age. The Scripture says that as we remember the Lord we are proclaiming His death until He comes back.555 This death is important because by the death of Christ, He took upon Himself our sins and absolved the wrath of God on our behalf.556 What a glorious Good News to celebrate that this is a finished work557 and we do not have to suffer the wrath of God for our sins if we are in Jesus Christ and walking in a life of true discipleship with Him.558
The Lord’s Supper is not just a symbol but a very important reminder of the holy act of God shedding His blood for the sins of men. If we partake of this supper in an unworthy way and are not having a reverential fear of the Lord in our daily lives then we can incur God’s discipline on the Church and ourselves.559 Thus taking the Lord’s Supper is part of realizing that Jesus Christ is Head of His Church and that He corrects and shepherds His own.
All true believers are invited to participate in the Lord’s Supper. “But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist [Lord’s Supper], unless they have been baptized into the Name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, ‘Give not that which is holy to the dogs.’”560 In 1 Corinthians we are reminded to examine ourselves: “So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the Body and Blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the Body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.”561 The Lord wants us to examine ourselves and confess any sins in our lives before participating in the Lord’s Supper. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”562 Confession also includes repentance and turning away from such sins in the future. If you are weeping over your sins you may want to abstain from participating in the Lord’s Supper. However, the Lord loves you and wants you to partake of the Lord’s Supper provided you have confessed and have asked for cleansing.
The Lord’s Supper reminds us to visualize and remember the great sacrifice of our Lord. An old Apostolic prayer states: “To us you have graciously given spiritual food and drink, and eternal life through Your servant.”563 Thus we should be thankful and humbled in the breaking of the bread.
The Holy Spirit is jealous to magnify and elevate the person of Christ564 and this occurs through the practice of the Lord’s Supper: “At the beginning it was Christ who was preached: the Person who was kept in full view, and the One through whom the Gospel came. It was ‘the Gospel of God concerning His Son.’ The emphasis was not upon what men could have, but upon God’s rights and Christ’s glory. This may seem to be straining things, but let it be understood that the Holy Spirit—the Custodian of Christ’s honor—is most jealous on this matter, and will only commit Himself to this keeping of Christ in view.”565
The Lord’s Supper also always keeps us humble showing that we are great sinners in need of salvation. This truth was shared by one of the early Church Fathers in this way: “The Word of God becomes the Eucharist [Lord’s Supper], which is the body and blood of Christ; so also our bodies, being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth, and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time, the Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father, who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to this corruptible incorruption, because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness, in order that we may never become puffed up, as if we had life from ourselves, and exalted against God, our minds becoming ungrateful.”566
During a powerful time of revival and restoration the Lord was working through believers called Anabaptists. Here is a quote from the year 1527: “The Lord’s Supper shall be held, as often as the brothers are together, thereby proclaiming the death of the Lord, and thereby warning each one to commemorate, how Christ gave His life for us, and shed His blood for us, that we might also be willing to give our body and life for Christ’s sake, which means for the sake of all the brothers.”567
In closing, here is a beautiful hymn by the founder of the Moravians, whose movement sent missionaries to the farthest reaches of the globe declaring the bloodied Lamb of God who died:
“Jesus, Your blood and righteousness. My beauty are, my glorious dress; Lord, I believe were sinners more Than sands upon the ocean shore, You have for all a ransom paid, For all a full atonement made.”568
May God see fit to raise up such a movement again to bring the Gospel of God to lost perishing souls.