Have you ever had a moment of clarity that changed everything? I recently experienced such an epiphany regarding the Lord’s Supper.
Over the last several years, the Supper has become increasingly important to me, but I couldn’t tell you why. Not exactly.
I grew up taking it rarely—maybe once a quarter or once a month. Because it was so infrequent, I didn’t think about it very much. I didn’t partake of it flippantly, but it was a secondary issue at best.
But over the years, I began to see that the Supper was a central part of the New Testament church meetings. The first Christians ate it regularly: weekly, if not daily.
It continued to be the central act of Christian worship until the Reformation, so it has often been mocked and parodied by unbelievers (the opening of the Paris Olympics being a recent example).
I began to change my practice to fit the evidence, and as I did, the Supper became increasingly important. In fact, over the last several years, a deciding factor in choosing a church for my family has been whether it celebrated the Supper weekly. I look forward to it. But why?
Then it suddenly hit me.
I hear the “voice of the law” all week long. So do you. By that, I mean that we’re daily reminded of how much we have failed to live up to the demands and expectations of family, work, school, and society. No matter how hard you try, there’s always a little more to do, and it can always be done better. The bottom line is, “You’re not quite good enough!” And that becomes a source of constant condemnation.
But then Sunday comes along, and you go to church expecting to hear the good news—hoping to hear some grace. But then the sermon is often about how you’re failing Jesus, too! It seems like every sermon is about our obligation to obey this or that law to become better Christians.
Readers of this blog certainly know how Lordship Salvation pastors preach and teach that, perverting the gospel by making salvation depend on doing and being good.
But if I’m being honest, even grace preachers can focus their sermons on our moral obligations. Yes, we preach salvation by grace, through faith, apart from works, but then we can quickly change subjects to discipleship and start reprimanding Christians about how Jesus expects us to be better people or else. It’s easy even for a grace preacher to make his sermon all about our obligations. And that will be heard as condemning. Believe me, I know the struggle. I wrote a whole book on how to avoid sermons like that, and I still struggle with preaching them!
The problem is, when you hear condemning messages seven days a week, it burns you out. Where’s the grace? Where’s the good news? I’m starving for it. Aren’t you?
Then I realized something about the Supper.
What does it do?
Think about it. While everything else in society is making demands, the Lord’s Supper gives. It gives you Jesus and His promises in a tangible demonstration of good news.
Without getting sidetracked into a debate about how to understand what happens to the bread and the wine, we all hear:
“This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24, emphasis added).
When I take the Supper, I hear Christ gave Himself for me. He died on the cross for my sins. When I chew the bread, I have that promise between my teeth, and I know that He meant me. When I drink the wine, it’s like having the gospel swirling on my tongue, and I know that Jesus bled for me to take away my sins and forgive me. It is all about what Jesus has done, not what I must do. It comes as a word of grace, giving me what it promises.
I wish the actors in that Olympic parody knew that. They think there’s freedom in rejecting the Supper for the Bacchanalia. But if you have ears to hear their message, all they preach is law. “Do you want salvation? Be merry, drunken, frenzied, sexual, and dress weirdly!” But there’s no end to those demands. You can always be merrier, drunker, more ecstatic, or painted a brighter shade of blue. Can you imagine trying to keep up with the younger libertines, partying all night long while also holding down a day job, paying the bills, raising kids, and getting them to soccer on time? Sounds exhausting. When does the Bacchanalia finally give you salvation? Never. It’s all law and no rest. Being a Dionysian is just as graceless as being a Pharisee.
Everyone needs Jesus and His grace. Believe in Him!
So, why do I love the Lord’s Supper?
Because when everything else is a moralistic reminder of what I should be doing for God, at least the Lord’s Supper quietly declares the good news of what Christ has already done for me (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:38).
_______________________
Send your questions or comments to shawn@freegrace.in.
Read his latest book, The Five Points of Free Grace for free, buy it from us, or from Amazon.
Shawn,
So encouraging. I have been going to LS for years. I too, have struggled with how to describe it.
We are commanded to go. However, as with all commands in the NT it is for our own good. You really brought it home personally how it makes us feel. It is a double benefit. First, we are obedient. Second, It makes us so grateful for Jesus and the Grace he offers for doing life.
Even today I was reading/thinking how I focus too much on sin and thus "wear out" 1st John 1:9. Heck I will never win. Just flat out a sinner to the core. What I am trying to do better is redirect thinking and getting on with what I am called to do in the Grace given to me thru Jesus. I am not judged on my failures but rather on my success in doing Gods plan. What a deal. Again, thanks for giving me a better way to explain to people why LS is so important to me.