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Dr. John K. LaShell
What Kind of Supper Is the Lord’s Supper?
For 12 ½ years I served as a pastor in a small town in western PA. Our town claimed a post office, 1,000 inhabitants, and one stoplight. The Lions Club was the only civic organization in town, so I joined it. They put me in charge of providing glasses for people in need. Every year we had a dinner and memorial service for the club members who had died—not just that year, but throughout the club’s history. Someone read their names, and we had a moment of silence in their memory.
Every month, our church has a memorial service for Jesus where we remember His crucified body and His shed blood. Is this essentially the same as the Lions Club memorial service for departed members, or is the Lord’s Supper much more? The Lord’s Supper has a rich, rich background in the Old Testament. The New Testament draws on that background and amplifies it immeasurably. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial meal on steroids.
When we participate in this memorial feast, what should we remember?
1. This is a Passover Supper.
Jesus instituted this supper during a Passover celebration. The apostle Paul reminds us that “Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). What was the Passover?
1500 years before the death of Christ, the Jews were slaves in Egypt. When God determined the time had come to take them to their Promised Land, He poured out His wrath on Egypt with a series of plagues. The last plague was the death of all the firstborn males throughout Egypt. God told the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb or a goat and to outline their doorways with its blood. Then God said,
The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:13).
God’s wrath did not fall on Israel. So the Lord’s Supper is a Passover supper.
A. It celebrates deliverance from God’s wrath
The wrath of God hangs like a sword suspended by a single hair over the head of every man, woman, and child outside of Christ.
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36).
The wrath of God abides on you if you do not trust Jesus as your Savior and obey Him as your Lord. When you come under the blood of Christ, as the Israelites came under the blood of the lamb or goat, then the wrath of God no longer hangs over you. You will never experience God’s wrath. I urge you to come under the blood of Christ this morning if you have never done that. As we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, His Passover Supper, thank Him that His blood has delivered you from the wrath of God.
B. We symbolically and spiritually eat the Lamb who delivered us
When we eat the bread representing Christ’s body, we are reenacting the Passover Supper. What did the Jews eat on that first Passover? They ate the lamb or goat whose blood delivered them from God’s wrath.
If all we wanted to do was remember the death of Christ, we could have a loaf of unleavened bread and a cup of wine on the communion table. We could all just look at it and remember. We don’t do that. We symbolically and spiritually eat the crucified body of Christ just as the Jews ate the Passover lamb.
While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body” (Matthew 26:26).
When we participate in this memorial feast, what should we remember? This is—
1. A Passover Supper
2. A Covenant Supper
And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you;for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:27-28).
That phrase, “blood of the covenant,” exactly reproduces the language Moses used when he served as the mediator of the Old Covenant, God’s covenant with the nation of Israel. He read the book of the covenant to the people, and they promised to obey.
So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exodus 24:8).
Jesus instituted the New Covenant by His death on the cross.
A. We live under the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant.
What is the difference? We are not saved by keeping all the strict legal requirements of the Old Testament Law—actually, no one was ever saved by keeping the Law—but we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We know, says the apostle Paul
… that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified (Galatians 2:16).
To be justified means to have a just or right standing before God. It means that God, the Judge, looks at your sins through the blood of Christ and says, “I do not condemn you. You are free.”
As you share in the Lord’s Supper this morning, be thankful that you live under the New Covenant that Jesus inaugurated by His death on the cross. But there is one thing more.
B. We symbolically and spiritually eat the covenant offering
After Moses sprinkled the people with covenant blood, he and the elders of Israel went partway up Mount Sinai
and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank (Exodus 24:10-11).
We don’t know what they saw. In Deuteronomy 4 Moses says that they didn’t see any form that they might copy as an image of God. What did they eat? They ate the flesh of the covenant offerings.
He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD (Exodus 24:5).
Burnt offerings were completely burned up on the altar. No one ate any part of them. Peace offerings had to be eaten by the one who offered them. So the elders, as representatives of the nation, ate the peace offerings that inaugurated God’s national covenant with Israel. God did not stretch out His hand against the nobles. Why is that important? It means that God admitted the nation of Israel into His presence. They were invited into fellowship with God.
When we eat the communion bread, we are symbolically and spiritually eating the flesh of our covenant offering. We are sprinkled with covenant blood, the blood of our sacrifice. We are saved through faith in the covenant sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we participate in this memorial feast, what should we remember? This is—
1. A Passover Supper
2. A Covenant Supper
3. A Peace Supper
Under this heading, I want to highlight the truths we have just seen in connection with the Covenant Supper.
A. Our peace offering admits us into fellowship with God
Jesus Christ is our peace offering. He is our peace with God; He conducts us into the presence of God so that we can come to God without fear.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2).
We stand firmly in the presence of God now, and we look expectantly to seeing and sharing in His glory. We are no longer God’s enemies. We are His sons and daughters. That is what peace with God means. Jesus “made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20). The cup that you drink during communion is symbolically and spiritually the blood of a peace offering.
B. We symbolically and spiritually eat the offering that creates peace with God
An Old Testament believer who ate his peace offering in the vicinity of the temple was very much aware that he was eating in the presence of God. The Lord who dwelt in the temple had received him. God had accepted him. As he ate, he was enjoying peace with His God.
When we eat the Lord’s Supper, we are celebrating our peace with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We also are eating in the presence of God. When we are here together this gathered congregation is the temple of the living God. God is here with us. His Spirit indwells each of you who believe in Jesus, and all together we are a temple of God. At the Lord’s Supper, you are eating in the presence of your God.
When we participate in this memorial feast, what should we remember? This is—
1. A Passover Supper
2. A Covenant Supper
3. A Peace Supper
4. A Life-Nourishing Supper
A. We share spiritually in the benefits of Christ’s body and blood
Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? 19 What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we? (1 Corinthians 10:16-22).
How did Old Testament Israelites share in the altar? Did they chew on a corner of it? No. By faith in God, they shared in the benefits of their sacrifice.
How do people eating at an idol’s temple share in demons? Is the animal meat magically transformed into a demon’s shinbone? Of course not!
So when we share in the body and blood of Christ, we should not think that His body and blood are physically present. There is a spiritual sharing in the benefits of His sacrifice when we come trusting not in the ordinance but in Christ.
B. We eat and drink Christ not with our mouths, but by faith
John 6 contains the “Bread of Life” discourse. Jesus said several shocking things that caused many of His superficial disciples to desert Him. This is one of those truths.
So Jesus said to them, “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 yourselves. 54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:53-54).
In the Old Testament God commanded the Jews not to eat blood or even to eat game animals from which the blood had not been drained. They had a horror of eating blood. When I was planning to go to Scotland in June (I had to cancel that trip), I decided I wasn’t going to eat Scottish delicacies—haggis, and blood sausage—no blood or guts for me.
How can we eat the flesh of Christ and drink His blood? He certainly did not mean anything physical. He tells us how to do it in John 6:35.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
We eat and drink by coming to Jesus and believing in Him. This is a spiritual eating and drinking. Jesus uses the rather gross image of eating His flesh and drinking His blood to drive away those who are not willing to submit to Him, but He is also teaching an important lesson based on Old Testament teaching.
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement (Leviticus 17:11).
The blood of Jesus poured out on the cross atoned for our sin. The blood of Jesus that we symbolically drink in the Lord’s Supper is His life put into us. As Christians, we live with His life in us. Perhaps it will help if I use a modern analogy—a blood transfusion can save the life of someone who was about to die from loss of blood.
The blood of Jesus is our life. Are you offended at this language? Then join the crowd of pretend disciples who deserted Jesus after He preached this message.
The Lord’s Supper is a visible sermon reminding us to come to Jesus so that He can satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst. When can we do this?
- At every communion service. When I take the bread, I often pray, “Lord Jesus, I hunger for many things in this world that don’t satisfy. Please feed me with Yourself. You alone can satisfy me.” When I take the cup, I often pray, “Lord Jesus, please quench my spiritual thirst. Your blood provides all I need for peace with God and peace within.”
- Every day of our lives. Our monthly communion is a reminder to come to Jesus every day of the month between communion services. Every day you and I need to come to Jesus to satisfy our spiritual hungers and thirsts. The Lord’s Supper preaches, in a visible way, the same truth that we see in John 7:37-39.
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
When we participate in this memorial feast, what should we remember? This is—
1. A Passover Supper
2. A Covenant Supper
3. A Peace Supper
4. A Life-Nourishing Supper
5. A Church Supper
A. The Lord’s Supper fosters unity
The bread of communion represents the body of Christ in two ways. First, it represents His physical body that hung on the cross. Second, it represents the body of Christ, which is the church.
Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:17).
Some of the early church fathers used to illustrate our unity in the body of Christ like this. The wheat in our communion loaf may have come from all over the world, mixed together in the hold of a ship or in a warehouse. Just as these many grains make one loaf, so Christians all over the world make up the one body of Christ.
B. We eat and drink Christ together
In NT days and for some time afterward, churches celebrated the Lord’s Supper at an actual supper called the Love Feast. Jude mentions false teachers who were spots in the love feasts. In Corinth, simple selfishness was marring the love feast. Rich people were having a feast before the poor got off work, then there was not much left. Or the rich brought steaks for themselves and the poor brought a few beans. Paul rebukes them for their lack of love.
Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. (1 Corinthians 11:20-22).
The Lord’s Supper is a church supper. We share it together as a church. It is not for private use. You have your own houses for feasting. The Lord’s Supper is a church celebration. God intends for the supper to bind us together. Later in this chapter, the apostle warns us not to take the supper in an unworthy manner. He tells us to examine ourselves. That is a broad statement, but the specific contextual application is this: Get right with your brothers and sisters before you take the supper.
Of course, there are special situations. During Covid, Pastor Scott invited people at home to take the Lord’s Supper all together with those who were in the room at church. In one of my churches, we had a couple of home-bound members. After the church shared in communion, I took a deacon with me to serve the Supper. I read my preaching text and gave a short summary of the sermon. The deacon served the elements, just as we did in church.
Buzz Aldrin was one of the astronauts in the first moon landing. He was also an elder of Webster Presbyterian church near Houston, and he had obtained permission from the Presbyterian General Assembly to serve Communion to himself during the landing. He took a small chalice, bread, and wine. He had arranged to synchronize the observance as nearly as possible with his home church. Later, he said, “I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.” But he didn’t do it all on his own authority.
When we participate in this memorial feast, what should we remember? This is—
1. A Passover Supper—Jesus causes God’s wrath to pass over us. That’s worth celebrating.
2. A Covenant Supper—We are not under the Old Covenant of the Law, but under the New Covenant of Grace. That’s worth celebrating.
3. A Peace Supper—The blood of Christ creates peace and fellowship with God. That’s worth celebrating.
4. A Life-Nourishing Supper—Jesus is our spiritual food and drink. He alone satisfies our spiritual thirst. That’s worth celebrating today and every day.
5. A Church Supper—We share it at church, not at home with a few friends. We celebrate and seek to preserve our unity in the body of Christ.