The apostle Paul tells us that our Lord instituted the Supper on the night He was betrayed. The indications from the gospels are that He served the elements of that Supper to his betrayer, Judas, who was already under the influence of Satan himself. And Jesus knew this. At the … [Read more...]
An Uncommon Common Meal
We are gathered here to eat the Lord’s Supper, not our own suppers. We all have homes of our own, and kitchens in them, and dining rooms. We have left behind our own food. This is not because we are ungrateful for it, but rather because we know that our food is not the food God … [Read more...]
For We Have None
Because the Lord’s Supper is a covenant meal, it may be abused. It is a covenant Supper, not a magic Supper. In the history of the Church, tragically, abuse has happened often. Paul says in one place that it is possible for the Supper to do more harm than good. He says that when … [Read more...]
Eating Authority
The apostle tells us that when we partake of this holy meal, we are proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes. Because this is a standing truth, it means that from the first observance of the Supper to the last observance of it just before His Second Coming, the Lord’s death … [Read more...]
Real Presence
We want to affirm the presence of the Lord here with us now, and this presence is truly a real presence. We do not want to say it is an absence—a mere memorial—and neither do we say it is an ethereal, spiritualized presence, or that it is simply a raw material presence, crassly … [Read more...]
The Head of the Table
As the apostle Paul begins the eleventh chapter of 1 Corinthians, let us assume that he is not guilty of a radical lurch as he changes subjects, deciding finally to come back to the subject of the Lord’s Supper in v. 17. The culmination point of Christian worship is the … [Read more...]
A Pious Cocoon
The apostle tells us to do whatever we do to the glory of God. We cannot really understand this unless we have been disciplined by His Table. Whatever you eat, whatever you drink, he says, whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. But this comes at the end of a detailed … [Read more...]
Fence the Tables
The apostle Paul does not draw the kind of antithesis we might expect between the Table of the Lord and the food we eat throughout our daily lives. In this passage from Corinthians we have been considering, he talks about the Lord’s Supper as a sacrament, the manna and water of … [Read more...]
Table Allegiance
We have no right to legislate morality in any area unless God has spoken to that issue clearly and directly. Apart from this, all things are lawful in their substance. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness of it. We have already considered that all men are covenantal … [Read more...]
Israel After the Flesh
As we come to the Table, Paul tells us to “behold Israel after the flesh.” Look, he says, at Israel in the Old Testament, and take special care to note how their condition was similar to yours. We partake of Christ in the bread and wine. They were partakers of the altar as … [Read more...]
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