The Lord’s Supper: Participation and Proclamation

Reading through 1 Corinthians 10 and 11 recently, I was struck by two ideas surrounding instructions on the Lord’s Supper that increased my joy in taking the Lord’s Supper. In the churches I have been part of, the Lord’s Supper is defined as an ordinance for the Church in which the church body is to remember what the Lord accomplished on the cross. This has been traditionally termed by theologians as the Memorial View of the Lord’s Supper. I whole-heartedly embrace this view. This view takes the Lord Supper as an act of worship where believers remember Christ’s sufferings on the Cross. The verses most often read before eating the bread and drinking the cup are found in Paul’s Lord’s-Supper instructions to the Corinthians found in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26:

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after 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.” (ESV)

In giving this instruction to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul is reminding them of the tradition Jesus handed down for His people. Do you see the command there? “Do this in remembrance of me.” Here we have Jesus’ command for His people: do this. We are to do the Lord’s Supper. This ordinance of eating bread and drinking the fruit of the vine is to be a regular aspect of our worship to God.

The word for remembrance used in our 1 Corinthians passage is only used four times in the New Testament. It is first seen in Luke 22:19, from which Paul quotes twice in 1 Corinthians 11:24 and 25. The only other time that specific word for remembrance is found in the New Testament is in the book of Hebrews.

In Hebrews 10:1-10, we are told that the law was only a shadow of the good things to come (10:1). We are also told that sacrifices of the old covenant were offered every year because they could not make perfect those who draw near to God. Instead, “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” (vv. 3-4). That’s our word in Corinthians. Those sacrifices were a reminder, a remembrance. A reminder of what, exactly? A reminder of sins. That is, the old covenant sacrifices were a constant reminder that our sins were not fully paid, that there was still a need for sin to be dealt with once and for all, that there was still a cosmic curtain closing off access to God because of our sins. Jesus, however, offered himself as a sacrifice for sins that truly did accomplish forgiveness, true and full atonement. Jesus established the new covenant. “He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (vv. 9-10).

What we have in the Lord’s Supper, then, is a remembrance, a reminder. But it is not a remembrance of sin, like the blood of bulls and goats were during the old covenant. What we have is a remembrance, a reminder, of complete forgiveness! We have a remembrance of full access to God! As we take the bread and drink the cup, we remember that we are forgiven because of the body of Jesus broken for us and his blood shed for us on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins. Instead of taking the Lord’s Supper as primarily a time for introspection, to confess and repent of sin, take the Lord’s Supper as primarily a time for extrospection, a time to look outside of yourself to the elements of bread and wine, and there remember the forgiveness of your sins in the body and blood of Jesus. For thousands of years God’s people had a reminder of their need of forgiveness, but now, for the last two millennia, we have a reminder of full forgiveness found in Christ’s sacrifice of Himself for us on the cross.

And if all that isn’t reason enough to be excited for the Lord’s Supper, there are two other aspects of the Lord’s Supper that will fuel our love for the Lord and enhance our worship experience of taking the Lord’s Supper. Those two aspects, from which the title of this post comes, are participation and proclamation. You see, Paul’s instruction on the Lord’s Supper does not begin in chapter 11. Rather, it begins in chapter 10.

First, the Lord’s Supper is a participation in Christ.

“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of 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. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons” 1 Corinthians 10:14-20.

Do you see that there, the word participation? The Apostle Paul uses the reality of what happens when Christians partake of the Lord’s Supper as a grounds for commanding the Corinthians to flee from idolatry. The cup of blessing that we bless and the bread that we break is a participation in the blood and body of Christ, therefore we ought to resist temptation and flee idolatry. Because we participate in Christ, we are to pursue holiness. The charge to flee idolatry is grounded in the reality of participation, which is displayed in the Lord’s Supper. So what does this mean? What does it mean that the Lord’s Supper is a participation in Christ? A more common word is fellowship. We have fellowship with Christ. He is present with us; he will never leave us nor forsake us; he dwells among us. Next time you partake of the Lord’s Supper, remember not only that Christ died for your sins, but also remember that you now have a participation in Christ, that is, you now have fellowship with God.

Not only is the Lord’s Supper a participation, it is a proclamation. Look again at 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 26. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

When the church gathers and practices the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, we are proclaiming something to the cosmos. What are we proclaiming? The Lord’s sacrificial, sin-atoning death on the cross. The word proclaim is always used in the New Testament to refer to the proclamation of the gospel message, that Jesus died for sins and rose again from the dead. When you take the Lord’s Supper, do you realize that you are doing an act of gospel-proclamation? You are proclaiming to the world and to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places that Jesus has cleansed His people from their sins; you are proclaiming that there is only one way of salvation, and that way is through the body and blood of Jesus, symbolized in the bread and cup. You are telling the world that this one bread, this one cup, is the one way to be forgiven, redeemed, and welcomed into fellowship with the Triune God.

These twin realities, participation and proclamation, should fuel and inform our worship at the Lord’s Supper. Brothers and sisters, next time you partake of the Lord’s Supper, I encourage you to remember that Jesus Christ atoned for your sins, you are completely forgiven! When you take the Lord’s Supper, remember that you are participating in Christ, you have fellowship with God. When you take the Lord’s Supper, remember that you are proclaiming God’s one way of salvation through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross.

A prayer from Matthew Henry’s book, A Way to Pray:

“Let this cup that blesses bring us into a united participation in the benefits of Christ’s blood. Let this bread which we break bring us into a united participation in the benefits of Christ’s body. By this thanksgiving celebration let us continually proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Amen.

Biblical Prophesy

“Briefly define your doctrinal beliefs,” someone asked me. There is no good, brief answer that could encompass the more intricate details of where I stand on particular doctrines, such as the doctrine of Salvation, the Church, End Times, etc. By nature, the more briefly a doctrine is stated, the more room the interpreter has to read into the stated doctrine, and perhaps read doctrines into that statement that I would disagree with.

I can describe, briefly, that my beliefs can be summed up as Reformed in regards to Soteriology, Baptist in regards to Ecclesiology, and Charismatic in regards to Pneumatology. This, of course, leaves room for misinterpretation. This post is an attempt to clarify one of my beliefs that flow from my Charismatic view of Pneumatology.

I am Charismatic, meaning that I believe the empowering and gifts of the Holy Spirit are active in the Church today. But I would describe and define that differently than some Charismatics; maybe the majority of Charismatics. In fact, some may say I sound like a Cessationist. So, clarity is needed. Let us take prophecy as one example.

Many Charismatic Evangelicals today would allow for a distinction between Old Testament prophecy and New Testament prophecy. Old Testament prophecy was infallible, but New Testament prophecy may at times be wrong, they say. I whole-heartedly disagree with that. For it to be genuine prophecy, it cannot be fallible. That is just one point of distinction. So let me fill out a bit more of what I believe about the prophetic gift of the Spirit.

The following thoughts flow out of my reading of Acts chapters 1 and 2, and paint the picture of my beliefs in HD rather than SD.

  1. Jesus is the one who received the promise of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4, 5, 8; ch. 2:33).
  2. Jesus is the one who has poured out the promised Holy Spirit on the church (same verses as above).
  3. By pouring out the promised Spirit on His Church, Jesus ushered in the Last Days proclaimed by the prophet Joel (Acts 2:16-21).
  4. Since the events in Acts 1-2 describe the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, that prophecy must be understood in connection with the events of Acts 1-2. That is, the kind of prophecy Joel has in mind is the kind we see in Acts 1-2.
  5. This kind of prophecy is given “as the Holy Spirit gives utterance” (2:4).
  6. This kind of prophecy is not bound to a particular, intelligible language (2:4).
  7. This kind of prophecy, though unbound by a particular language, is always uttered in particular, intelligible languages (2:8-11).
  8. This kind of prophecy is concerned with “the mighty works of God” (2:11).
  9. This kind of prophecy focuses its proclamation of God’s mighty works on the person and work of Jesus, particularly His death, resurrection, ascension, and heavenly enthronement (2:22-36).
  10. This kind of prophecy has as its aim and goal that all people might call on the name of the Lord and be saved (2:21, 38-41).

This, then, rules out the following:

  1. The Holy Spirit is received by something we do.
  2. The Holy Spirit is only given to some Christians.
  3. The prophetic gift of the Spirit is given to all Christians.
  4. Prophecy in the New Testament is different than prophecy in the Old Testament.
  5. Prophecy can be spoken in angelic, non-human languages.
  6. One particular language is more holy than other languages.
  7. The prophetic gift is concerned about who to marry or where to eat lunch.
  8. The prophetic gift has as its aim the condemnation of sinners.
  9. The prophetic gift is given to conceal God’s work of salvation from unbelievers.

There are many implications to the above, but let it be a brief expansion of my brief doctrinal statement that I am Charismatic and believe the gift of prophecy is active in the Church today. In many ways, preaching and teaching are prophetic acts. “The one who prophecies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation” (1 Corinthians 14:3).

Sin in America

There is no doubt that the recent events in America surrounding the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police brutality, and the subsequent peaceful protests and destructive riots have again exposed a deep divide in America. My aim is to address this from a biblical perspective, and Lord willing to offer the only biblical solution. To do this, we need to diagnose the problem Biblically rather than culturally.

The sin we are seeing in our country at its root is not racism, not brutality, not a suppression of free speech. The sin in our country is the sin of partiality. Some police show partiality to white citizens and afford them a common courtesy that they do not afford to black citizens. Some police show partiality to black citizens in a harmful way, seeing the majority of black citizens as dangerous and less valuable, and therefore they feel justified in racial profiling. Protests against police brutality is a good thing, but protesting the police is not. Saying all police are corrupt is to commit the same sin, the sin of partiality, that some police do when they target black citizens and let white citizens go free for committing the same crimes. Free speech is a good thing, a human right that ought to be protected. But news and media outlets are committing the sin of partiality by cropping news clips and presenting some data, but nowhere near all the data, and doing so in such a way that promotes their political agenda and serves their ideological bias. Rather than being wholly committed to the truth, they are being partial to their political party’s agenda, and this is on both sides, Republican (here’s to you Fox News) and Democrat (here’s to you almost everyone else). These sins of partiality only breed more partiality. What we need is not the wisdom from below that is partial and biased, but rather we need the wisdom from above which is impartial and sincere, full of mercy and good fruits, producing a harvest of righteousness.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” – James 3:13-18 (ESV)

The only way to obtain that harvest of righteousness and the peace we all desperately long for is by a transfer of allegiance. Not a revolt against the American Flag which we all pledged allegiance to in Kindergarten, but by a full and complete allegiance to Jesus Christ who is the wisdom of God and who has never once committed the sin of partiality. The Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. The sin of partiality, which is being expressed in our day by some police murdering some black people for petty crimes that deserve no more than a slap on the wrist; the sin of partiality, which is being expressed in our day by some protestors saying all cops are evil, all the while being protected by police from extremist rioters who do deserve more than a slap on the wrist; the sin of partiality, which is being expressed in our day by news and media outlets only covering that half of the story that makes their political party look good; the sin of partiality, which has made some governing authorities shirk their primary responsibility to be terrors to bad conduct have rather become a terror to good conduct as they bear God’s sword in vain by neglecting their role to distribute God’s wrath on the wrongdoer all for the sake of saving face and not wanting to be seen as opposed to a righteous cause; that sin of partiality will never depart from our nation until it departs from our hearts, and the only way that can happen is by a full and complete allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord. Jesus, the one who makes all people in His image, the one who died to propitiate all kinds of people from their sins, including their sins of partiality; Jesus, the only one who can change the heart. I say, as America bows the knee in protest of George Floyd’s murder, let us do so by bowing the knee in full allegiance to Jesus, confessing Him as Lord. 

What would this look like? For one, it would look like confession and repentance. It would look like owning personal sins of partiality and confessing them to the Lord and to those that we have personally sinned against. We ought not to confess the sins that others have committed, for that is to blame-shift rather than own the the sins we have committed. Two, it would look like admitting that the sin of partiality has negatively affected some groups of people more than others. Three, it would look like media outlets being wholly committed to Jesus, who is the Truth, and prove that allegiance by presenting all the known facts in an unbiased manner without an aim to win an agenda that is opposed to Christ. Fourth, it would look like seeing all people as divine image-bearers of infinite worth and value. Fifth, it would look like seeing uniqueness in the different groups of people in our nation, and still upholding that those uniquenesses are not better or worse than another group’s uniqueness. Sixth, it would look like governing laws and policies, and the carrying out of those laws and policies, whose design have justice and righteousness as their goal. In a word, it would look like the kingdom of God on earth. Come, Lord Jesus.