Catechetical sermons preached in PCC Evening Worship Services, Feb 2013 to Dec 2017
WSC 96 of 107
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
WSC 96. What is the Lord’s Supper?
A. The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment, his death is shewed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.1
1 1 Cor 11:23-26; 1 Cor 10:16
The first inspired epistle of Paul to the Corinthian Church was written in response to a letter from the leaders of the church. In their letter, they asked him several questions about the life of the church.
In the first ten chapters of his letter, Paul deals with the subject of disunity within the church (chaps. 1-4); of immorality and excommunication (chap. 5); of lawsuits between members (chap. 6); of marriage, divorce and singlehood (chap. 7); and the problem of food offered to idols (chaps. 8-10).
From chapter 11 onwards, we find the apostle beginning to deal with the matter of public worship. He begins with something that appears to be quite troubling for him, namely the issue of head-covering for women in public worship.
Apparently, there was a movement in the Corinthian Church to depart from the apostolic tradition of having women cover their heads in worship.
Paul, obviously displeased, seeks vigorously to get the church to keep the tradition by using a few strong arguments.
But that is not the only thing he takes issue with. He is also unhappy with how fellowship meals are observed in the church.
These fellowship meals, sometimes known as agape feasts, were not worship ordinances. But in those days, they were frequently enjoyed in conjunction with the Lord’s Supper.
When it was still practised, these fellowship meals served as a kind of indicator or test of the warmth of the fellowship between the members of the church who would meet at the Lord’s Table.
Well, the Corinthians failed the test miserably. Paul, as a result, lectures them for their divisiveness and selfishness.
Why is Paul so upset about the conduct of the fellowship meal when it is not an apostolic ordinance and can be done away with?
The reason is that the problems that surface at the meals are deeper than meet the eye. It is an evil in the church. This evil is that of a lack of love or even animosity between the members of the church.
When this evil is brought into the Lord’s Supper, the church invites God to judge and chastise them.
This is why after Paul deals with the subject of the Lord’s Table and explains that God will judge the church for partaking of the Lord’s Supper unworthily, he concludes in verses 33-34:
33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
Paul wants the church to correct the faults that surfaced at their fellowship meal before the Lord’s Supper. Only then will they receive a blessing rather than a curse from the Lord when they come together at the Lord’s Table.
But for our purpose in this sermon, we want to lay aside the fellowship meal to look at the Lord’s Supper, which is really the heart of Paul’s discussion. The fellowship meal is but the façade. The Lord’s Supper is the matter of real concern to the apostle Paul. On the subject, he says:
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
What exactly is the Lord’s Supper as presented in this text?
The answer to our Shorter Catechism, WSC 96, teaches us:
The Lord’s supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment, his death is shewed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.
We see the essential ingredients of this statement in our text. In particular, let’s consider three points organised according to the simple acrostic ABC:
1. Appointed by Christ as a sacrament
2. Bread and wine are given and received
3. Communion is the meaning and purpose
1. Appointed by Christ as a Sacrament
The Lord’s Supper is appointed by Christ as a sacrament for His church. Paul says:
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me
v. 23-24
n the same night the Lord Jesus was betrayed, He gathered His disciples in an upper room to observe the Passover. As the Passover meal concluded, He took bread and wine and instituted the Lord’s Supper. He told His disciples the meaning of the Supper and then commanded them: “This do in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19).
The disciples understood that the Lord would have His Church observe the Lord’s Supper to remember His sacrificial death on their behalf. It is an ordinance of the Lord. Therefore, they delivered it to the Church to observe until Christ returns.
The apostle Paul was not present when the Lord instituted the Supper. He was the thirteenth, or perhaps more accurately, the twelfth apostle—“as one born out of due time,” as he puts it himself (1 Cor 15:8).
But he, nevertheless, received the ordinance from the Lord himself. So important was the ordinance to the Lord that He made sure that Paul received it from Himself directly.
We don’t know when the Lord delivered the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper to Paul. But he was probably taught the ordinance together with the gospel. He told the Galatians:
11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ
Gal 1:11-12
Paul received not only the message of the gospel, but the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. We call it a sacrament because, as we have seen previously, the Lord’s Supper signifies, seals, and applies the benefits of the covenant of grace to us.
It signifies, for the Lord himself says, “This is my body, which is broken for you” and “this cup is the new testament in my blood.” Whatever else the Lord means, it is evident that the Lord is saying the ordinance signifies spiritual truths related to the covenant of grace. The word “testament” (διαθήκη, diathēkē) can be translated as “covenant.” Indeed, we can be sure that the Lord is referring to the new covenant Jeremiah prophesied in chapter 31 (Jer 31:31ff). The new covenant is but an administration of the covenant of grace.
Apart from all other spiritual benefits of the Supper, those who partake of it by faith are assured that they are part of the covenant body of which Christ is head. The Lord’s Supper, in other words, seals the benefits of the new covenant.
It is clear, then, that the Lord’s Supper is not an invention of the church, but a sacrament instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
2. Bread and Wine Are Given and Received
This sounds quite obvious at first. But do you realise that many believers think the Lord’s Supper is only about eating the bread and drinking the wine? Thus, some churches allow the elements of the Supper to be packed home for the sick. And some churches even pack the elements for sale as if the elements have some magical powers. But this is all very wrong.
Our Shorter Catechism teaches us that the Supper involves both the “giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment.” The sacrament, in other words, is not only about the bread and wine, but includes the sacramental action of giving and receiving the bread and wine.
But there is more. Our text itself shows that there is more. Notice how the Lord, verse 23, “took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.”
Thus, our Confession of Faith, chapter 29, paragraph 3 reads:
The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed His ministers [1] to declare His word of institution to the people; [2] to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use; and [3] to take and break the bread, [4] to take the cup, and (they communicating also themselves) to give both to the communicants; but to none who are not then present in the congregation.
We can see from this statement that the Lord’s Supper is not only about eating and drinking. Instead, it is about sharing a meal together. As such, the act of giving is as significant as the act of partaking.
The minister is to imitate Christ. Apart from reading the word of the institution of the sacrament, he is to give thanks for the bread and wine as the Lord did. Then, he is to take the bread as the Lord took the bread. He is to break the bread to signify the breaking of the Lord’s body. He is to hand the bread out as the Lord handed the bread out to his disciples. Then, he is to take the cup and hand it out.
No minister administering the Lord’s Supper should omit any of these steps, although the orders need not be rigidly followed. These steps should be followed if the Supper is to be administered diligently because it is more than a meal.
For example, the minister must break the bread in the congregation’s view because this was what the Lord did. It was a symbolic enactment of what happened to His body as He headed to the Cross.
His bones were, of course, not broken, for none of the bones of the Passover lamb was broken. But He was scourged, slapped, punched and bruised. His body was in many ways broken even before He went to the Cross.
The Lord would have us remember His bodily suffering as we behold the bread broken before our eyes. He would have us understand tangibly that he was bruised and broken for our transgression by having us eat the bread. He would have us remember that He shed His blood when we smell and drink the red wine.
3. Communion Is the Meaning and Purpose
But what is the meaning and purpose of the Lord’s Supper?
The Supper was instituted the night the Lord Jesus was betrayed. The disciples had gathered in an upper room to observe the Passover. It was the last Passover that the Lord would observe with them, for after this, the symbols of the Passover would be fulfilled.
Christ is the Passover Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world for sinners. The Passover lamb that the Jews partook of for centuries was but a bloody type of the Lord Himself.
If so, then it is clear that the Lord’s Supper is to remind us that Christ our Lord died as our propitiation. What is a propitiation? It is a sacrifice to appease the wrath of God. Christ died to pay for the penalty due to His church for their sin and rebellion against God. This explains why the bread should be broken, for it visually represents the breaking of the Lord’s body.
But why must we eat and drink the bread and wine? No doubt, the Lord has appointed that we must eat and drink in this sacrament so that we may, as it were, participate in his suffering, and it may be palpable to us that what the Lord did, He did for us. Sharing a meal, after all, is the most intimate way family members share in each other’s life. Preparing a meal for someone is one of the most intimate ways of showing interest in another person’s life.
Referring to the Lord’s Supper, Paul says, 1 Corinthians 10:16:
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
The word ‘communion’ translates a Greek word (κοινωνία, koinōnia), which means fellowship, participation and sharing. So Paul is saying that when we partake of the bread in the Supper, we would be partaking and sharing in the body of Christ. So, likewise, when we drink the wine, we partake and share in the blood of Christ.
What does that mean?
Roman Catholicism teaches that the bread actually becomes the flesh of Christ, and the wine actually becomes the blood of Christ after they are set apart by prayer. This doctrine is known as transubstantiation. But this is a pernicious error that has led to all sorts of idolatry and superstition, such as venerating the elements, kneeling to partake of the bread, not chewing the bread, withholding the wine, etc. The fact is when Christ performed a miracle of transubstantiation, the water tasted exactly like wine.
The Lutheran doctrine of Consubstantiation is not very different. They say that the flesh of Christ becomes infused into the substance of the bread, and the blood of Christ becomes infused into the wine. There is, again, no biblical or rational ground for such a theory.
But neither do we believe that the bread at the Lord’s Supper is purely symbolic. Note how Paul teaches us in the subsequent verses that if we eat the bread unworthily without discerning the Lord’s body, we eat judgment to ourselves, and we would incur God’s temporal chastisement, which includes bodily afflictions and death. If it is purely symbolic, these things will be hard to explain.
No, no; we believe that as we partake of the bread by faith, we are made by the power of the Spirit of Christ, partakers of His body and blood, and all the benefits associated with Him in His dying for us. We do not literally eat the flesh of Christ or drink His blood. But we do really, though spiritually, partake of His flesh and blood when we partake of the Lord’s Supper by faith.
When that happens, we are spiritually strengthened in a manner different from merely hearing the word preached or read.
This is known as the Spiritual Presence View, or simply, Calvin’s View.
This is the view that is taught in our Catechism:
WSC 96. What is the Lord’s Supper?
A. The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment, his death is shewed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.
At the Lord’s Supper, the death of Christ is shown forth. We are to partake of the Lord’s Supper by faith and in grateful remembrance of what the Lord has done for us. As we partake by faith, we are fed and strengthened spiritually in a way that preaching does not do.
The Lord Jesus says in John 6:
53 …Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
It is at the Lord’s Supper that we really, but spiritually, eat the flesh of Christ and drink His blood by faith. And the Lord nourishes us spiritually through it. Of course, we may not immediately discern the spiritual refreshment and nourishment. But that does not make it any less real.
Conclusion
Beloved brethren and children, that is the Lord’s Supper.
What shall we do with these things?
Let me suggest three applications as we close:
First, let us understand that the Lord’s Supper is an essential ordinance of the Lord. The apostle Paul was not present on the night the Lord was betrayed, but the Lord made it a point to convey to him the institution and meaning of the Supper so that Paul was able to say, “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you.”
None of us should think that the Lord’s Supper is optional. The Lord Jesus himself viewed the Supper as very important. If we understand the purpose of the Supper correctly, then we would also appreciate that it is vital for our soul.
Therefore, let us strive never to miss the Lord’s Supper. Do not absent yourself from the Table. Do not allow yourself to abstain because of an unresolved problem with someone. Instead, seek to resolve the problem so you can enjoy the supper.
And you, children and brethren, who are not yet joining the Table because you have not made a commitment to Christ or His Church, or you are not baptised, may I urge you not to allow yourself to continue status quo like that.
Seek baptism. Seek confession of faith. Seek membership. Do whatever is needed so that you can be at the Table. Do not let another Supper go by without joining in at the Table.
The Lord’s Supper, you must remember, is not merely symbolic. It is a means of grace. Those who do not partake of the Lord’s Supper miss out on something vital for their souls.
Secondly, let us remember that we must partake of the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of the death of Christ. Each time we prepare to come to the Lord’s Table, let us remember to meditate on the death of Christ for us.
Then, at the Table, let us not let our minds drift or go blank. Let us instead observe the sacramental actions: the breaking of the bread and the handing out of the bread and wine, and let us consciously recall the sufferings of our Saviour. Let us do so that we may eat and drink of the body and blood of our Saviour in faith, gratitude and love.
And children, if you are still unable to come to the Table, remember to do the same.
Thirdly, the Lord’s Supper is for us to “shew the Lord’s death till he come.” Therefore, let us turn our eyes of faith unto the Lord each time we come to the Table to ask him: “Lord, how long? Maranatha, come Lord Jesus!”
Let us believe that He is coming again. With each Lord’s Supper we observe, we are nearer to the coming again of our Lord. Soon, the sorrows of the present world will be over. Soon, the emblem of our fellowship with Christ and with one another, even the Lord’s Supper, will be replaced by everlasting and perfect fellowship with one another and with Christ. May the Lord help us long for and be prepared for that day!
As we look forward to that day, may the Lord give us the grace to lay aside our differences and our unhappy feelings towards one another so that we may serve the Lord, labouring and worshipping together as one body for the glory of Christ. We are going to be together for all eternity. Shall we not begin today to dwell together with one another in love rather than in suspicion and tension? May the grace of the Lord be with us! Amen.
—JJ Lim