The Desire of All Nations

By Pastor Benjamin Glaser - Posted at Thoughts From Parson Farms:

A Singular Way the Lord's Supper Provides Christ in Community

Good Morning!

We are going to just look at one question today as we move from what we would term the initiatory rite of the Christian faith, that is Baptism, to what we may call the confirmational sign of resting and trusting in Jesus alone for salvation, which is the Lord’s Supper. I’ll explain some more what those mean in a second. To start off there are similarities and dissimilarities between these two sacraments of the Church which need to be spoken of first. They are the same in that they both only work if the Holy Spirit is involved. They are different in that the exercise of faith, the very act of believing in the purpose of the intaking of food and drink, is not the same as the passive promise of the water and the Triune blessing. On Sunday evening for the past eight weeks we’ve talked about some particularities of the nuts and bolts of the covenant meal. This morning I do not want to reinvent the wheel on that, but to focus more on the spiritual mechanics which provide so much love and grace to the believer as we commune together in Christ.

Let’s get right to the Q/A:

Q. 168. What is the Lord’s supper?

A. The Lord’s supper is a sacrament of the New Testament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine according to the appointment of Jesus Christ, his death is shewed forth; and they that worthily communicate feed upon his body and blood, to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace; have their union and communion with him confirmed; testify and renew their thankfulness, and engagement to God, and their mutual love and fellowship each with other, as members of the same mystical body.

Everything we do in the Christian life is to be done only be the command of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Our King and High Priest sets the terms of the Supper in the Upper Room meal before His death and resurrection. Paul confirms for us that we are to be found continuing this sacrament in the New Covenant era in the first half of 1 Corinthians 11:23 when he reports, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you . . . “. There is great peace available to us when we simply do what we are told. For God does know that which is best for us, and that especially includes His worship. We talked last Sunday evening about how communion is a public spectacle. It is an event done by the Church which speaks to the world around us as much to our own hearts about our trust and love of Christ.

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