The Lord's Supper
Its Purpose
The early church gathered on the first day of the week for the Lord's Supper (Acts 20:7), accompanying it with praise, prophecy, worship, teaching of the Bible and other spiritual activities (1st Corinthians 14).
During the centuries that followed, the performance of the Lord's Supper degenerated and its significance was lost in the midst of the idolatry and blasphemy of the mass. However, since the reform of the sixteenth century the Evangelical churches restored it and generally maintained its importance and purity, and we thank God for their faithfulness.
Through the Lord's Supper, the Lord Jesus gave to His people a symbolic remembrance, which refreshes the memory, provides fellowship with Him and shows confidence in His return.
The New Testament gives no ritual or fixed procedure for this meeting. In 1 Corinthians 11.23-29 nothing is said of praise, hymns, worship or reading of Scripture; the essential thing is to remember the Lord, each participating in the bread and cup as He Himself commanded. There is no law requiring that the Lord's Supper be observed only on a Sunday, and the Bible never calls it a "feast" - a word descriptive of certain Jewish institutions.
The purpose of the Lord's Supper is to remember the Lord, but unfortunately He is often the last to be remembered. There are speeches about the glorious position of believers, and long "thanksgivings" for the many blessings received; but the celebration should be of Christ in His perfection - the wonder of His incarnation and His sinless life, the value (for God and men) of His atoning death, the glory of His resurrection and exaltation, the sufficiency of His priestly ministry, and the expectation of His return and of His eternal kingdom.
It is Christ himself and not ourselves and our blessings that should fill our thoughts and be the center of our worship. There are many biblical passages that should be employed to demonstrate the value of our Saviour, but in many meetings for the Lord's Supper only the same two or three passages are read week after week. The Bible consists in much more than Isaiah 53 and Hebrews 10. 19-22 ...
The Lord's Supper offers an opportunity for corporate worship, fruit of spiritual meditation that leads to true worship of the Father and the Son. We need not occupy much time in contemplation of "our dark and sad past;" the worshipper, purified by the blood, has left behind his sins, knowing that God "has forgotten them" (Isaiah 44.22).
The Father seeks worshippers, and our privilege is just that - to worship Him. Undoubtedly, the Lord's Supper is not the only time we "worship in spirit and in truth" or "enter the sanctuary," because these phrases do not refer primarily to meetings but to the constant attitude of worship and fellowship that should characterize the believer. However, in the Lord's Supper worship and priestly ministry of the People of God may be fully exercised.
When at the Lord's Supper, we are directed by the Holy Spirit (as we should be at any other meeting and everything in our lives), order and decency reign in it: in the spiritual order of the hymns, in the prayers and in the expounding (or simply reading) of the Scriptures; reverence is shown by the arrival of all believers before the time it is to start.
The "freedom" to teach, exhort, etc.., should not be abused by the "exhibition" on the part of some who without proper authority insist on ministering the Word, nor should this "freedom" be suffocated by the sloth of others who do not prepare to take the part that becomes them.
"YOU ARE THE MAGNET " - These words are fouond in the third verse of the beautiful hymn of J. I. Freire, number 580 in the hymnal "Hymns and Songs", and the entire line says: "You are the magnet that draws us" - referring no doubt to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ when, speaking to the Jews concerning His death, He said: "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself "(John 12:32).
The symbol of the magnet employed by the author of the hymn, aptly describes the powerful attraction that the Lord Jesus has for the believer's heart - or rather, towards the hearts of believers united as His flock, with special reference to the Lord's Supper. There, attracted and moved by the remembrance of His love, we feel compelled to praise and worship.
What is a magnet anyway? It consists of a piece of metal, usually iron or steel, which has magnetic properties - that is, it attracts to itself other metal objects. This almost irresistible power of attraction causes the magnet to be used in several ways: there are magnetic brakes, magnetic cranes, etc.., and the sea compass sea depends on the interesting fact that the magnetized needle, when set free, always turns to the north, ie to the magnetic pole of the earth, as our earth itself is like a huge magnet, attracting all objects to itself.
Jesus says: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself." The death, resurrection and ascension of the Son of God would condemn the world, would be the defeat of Satan, and all men would have to "think about the Christ" (Matt. 22:42), for salvation or condemnation.
Even after almost two thousand years, men do not cease to meditate, speak, discuss and write about that wonderful Person whose death is the great proof of God's great love for them (Romans 5.8), and whose resurrection assures eternal justification to those who believe in Him (Romans 4:25). Neutrality is impossible. The message of the Gospel compels them to resolve, by the acceptance or rejection of Christ, their eternal destiny - "death leading to death, or life leading to life" (2 Corinthians 2:16), all are drawn to Him
However, for us who believe in Him and know Him as Lord and Guide, the Son of God is in a much more intimate manner the magnet that draws us to Himself, so we may enjoy a permanent and ever more perfect fellowship with the Father and the Son (1st. John 1:3).
At the Supper, the two sacred symbols speak to us of His death for us, and of our communion with Him in His death, and of His presence with us "always, even to the end of the age." Does the love of the Lord truly attract us at this time, making our hearts "burn within us" (Luke 24.32) for praise and worship?
As His disciples and "friends", we are increasingly attracted by the constant evidence of His love and His faithfulness to us, by the growing knowledge of His Word, of His character, of His patience and mercy toward us. The more we know Him, the more he shows himself to be the true "MAGNET" that attracts us.
"Until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26) - so the church remembers Him at the Supper. And then? " ... At the last day of the church on earth, "the Lord Himself will descend from heaven... and the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them... to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4.16-17). Our MAGNET will attract us to Himself, literally taking us up above all the heavens, to be forever with the Lord.
Finally, let us always fulfill the main reason for the Supper - the remembrance of the Lord, so that the Church "proclaims the Lord's death till He comes." "Do this in remembrance of Me." (Read more by clicking here )
Richard Dawson Jones (1895 - 1987)
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