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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (28-3-1999 Guisborough Evangelical Church)
There was a problem at Corinth with unseemly behaviour at
the Lord’s Supper. So Paul gives teaching about the Lord’s Supper, the
importance of what it signifies, and why it must approached in the proper
manner.
We are going to develop the theme further. Firstly, going to consider that the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance, or means of grace. Then, the frame of mind at the Table, and the benefits we can expect to receive
The Lord has given two ordinances to His church –
baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Two visible signs, which set forth the truth of
the Gospel to those who partake, and help and strengthen their faith. They have
a teaching function – they preach the Word of God in a dramatic action. They
are visual aids, God clothing His promises of the Word in signs you can see and
touch and taste. C.f. we also use signs to convey more forcefully our promises,
e.g. the handshake for friendship, kiss for affection, salute for loyalty.
So the Gospel has given us two
signs to illustrate and make clear the truth of the Gospel. A sermon is the
audible word; an ordinance is the visible word. Baptism uses water, the Lord’s
Supper uses bread and wine. These elements remain the same; there is no magical
change. Those who administer them do not have a special mystical quality. Yet
they are means of rich spiritual blessing when approached in the right way. Both
offer the means for us to identify ourselves with the Gospel truth, and show it
is ours.
These ordinances are an
essential part of the Christian message. Like the Word of God preached in the
Gospel, they make an appeal to the soul. According to our response of faith, the
blessing of the Lord is on us. These are not private ordinances between an
individual and one other. They are linked with the doctrine of the church.
Baptism is the door into the visible church. We meet around the Lord’s Table
as members of the family of Christ. We baptise only once because we are born
again and justified only once. But we take the Lord’s Supper often because we
regularly need to be assured of forgiveness and have our spiritual life
nourished.
Baptism proclaims the Lord’s death as the source of spiritual life. The Lord’s Supper demonstrates the Lord’s death strengthening the new life which has begun in us. Many can testify that they are not bare signs, but that, at baptism, and at times around the Lord’s Table, there is a vivid sense of the Lord’s presence and fellowship with Him. This results when we approach in the right frame of mind and in faith. So it becomes a means of grace to the soul. Like service generally, if we come in an empty thoughtless way, treating it as more of a habit or outward action, it has no benefit at all – apart from quietening our conscience. But if our approach is right and spiritual, the blessing can be enormous. According to you faith be it unto you (Matthew 9:29).
When we meet around the Lord’s Table, the Word of God
is read, usually a passage bearing on Christ and salvation, the institution of
the Lord’s Supper, or a reading about the meaning of the Cross. Our ears hear
the truth, and our eyes see the visible symbols of the truth – the bread and
the wine representing the Lord’s body and blood
If it is not going to be an
empty ritual, our attitude and approach must be right in order to be blessed as
we hear and see the Truth. We come penitentially, sorry for our sins, which
necessitated the death of Christ. Sorry for the sins of the past week in which
we crucified Christ afresh. If we are truly repentant, and there is no
unconfessed sin on our heart, and nothing between us and another, we experience
the love and fellowship with our neighbours in Christ.
We contemplate the bread and the
wine, Christ’s body and blood. Supposing He had not come, if His body had not
been broken, and His blood had not been shed. We would be lost forever. We would
have to face God with our sins, and be damned to Hell. As it is, we have
forgiveness; we will be welcomed home, given new life by our loving heavenly
Father. We are secure now and in eternity. We do not know what the future holds,
but it is secure. We are in the covenant people of God. We have safety,
certainty and enjoyment. All because of one thing – He died in my place.
Commune with Him. Thank Him for
what He did. Thank Him for all the blessings to which His death has opened the
door. His death is our only hope. We are reminded of that through His Word and
through the bread and the wine. We offer two sacrifices. Let us continually
offer to God a sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15). Offer your bodies as
living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). We thank Him with our lips and with our
lives.
I am not my own, I have been
bought with a price. He gave His life. I must give Him my heart, body, lips,
ears, faculties, talents and possessions. I ask for His strength to live for
Him, because He has done so much for me. He has given me His people. I thank Him
for them, and ask Him to make me a blessing to them, and to help me love them.
So we commune with the Lord. We
can do it many ways, but the communion is more vivid because here the bread and
the wine are such visible and unmistakeable reminders of His love to us. The
truth becomes more real. The Lord is spiritually present at His table. We feed
on Him by faith in our hearts with thanksgiving. We are especially aware of Him
at the Table.
“Here,
o my Lord, I see Thee face to face.
Here
would I touch and handle things unseen.
Here
grasp with firmer hand the eternal grace
And
all my weariness upon Thee lean.”
Inevitably, it is not just about
the mechanical eating and drinking, and a “thank you for dying for me”. It
is meant to be a time of fellowship with Christ, which must lead to blessing to
our souls. We receive clearer views of Christ, His atonement, and the work of
redemption. Facts about the truths at the heart of Gospel are more deeply
pressed on the soul. Each time we find fresh reasons for deeper repentance for
sins, humbling of selves before the Lord, and living faith in Him. How sinful
our sin must be if nothing less than the death of God’s own Son could make
satisfaction for it. Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another (1
Peter 5:5) – of all places, at the Table.
Also cheering effect. The sight
of the bread and wine is a reminder of how full and complete our salvation is.
The mighty truth is we have nothing to fear. His sufficient payment was made for
our debt. He answered every charge against us.
Also sanctifying effect. We are
reminded of how great our debt to the Lord is. How thoroughly we are bound to
live to the Lord. No option but to rededicate our lives to the Lord. Bound to
live for Him. Is anything to great to do for Him?
Restraining effect. Reminded at
the Lord’s Table what a serious thing it is to be a Christian. How great an
obligation to lead a consistent life. Christ to be glorified in spirit and body
because it was bought at such a price. If we go regularly and intelligently to
the Lord’s Table, we will find it increasingly hard to yield to sin and be
conformed to the world. Thus at the Table our repentance is deepened, faith
increased, our love is enlarged, and we are drawn nearer to Christ. We see more
clearly what Christ is to mean to us, and what we mean to Him. So a work of
grace in our hearts is established and I we are built up.
No wonder the true and earnest Christian finds the Lord’s Supper is a means of grace and great blessing to the soul. Not all Christians have the same blessing every time, nor does the same believer benefit all the time. And yet we rarely find an earnest believer who will not say the Lord’s Supper is one of his best helps and highest privileges. To neglect the Table is to despise the Lord who ordained it, and it also leads to our own impoverishment.
Summary of the case. Spurgeon’s catechism poses the
question “What is the Lord’s Supper?” The answer is, “It is an ordinance
of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ wherein by giving and receiving
of bread and wine according to his appointment, His death is shown forth and
worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner (i.e. crude
physical way) but by faith made partakers of His body and blood, with all His
benefits to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace.”
How significant the Lord’s
Table can be. What enormous potential for spiritual growth and awareness of the
Lord and benefits of His salvation. No wonder in parts of the Highlands where it
is taken very seriously, observance of the Lord’s Supper, though only twice a
year, extends over a five-day period including a service of preparation at the
beginning and a service of thanksgiving at the end.
What does the Table mean to us? How much have we entered into its true significance? What spiritual benefits do we really desire when we meet each Sunday? And what should we do that the Lord’s Supper may have the significance for us that it has in mind of the Lord? Can we do it all in ten minutes? Do we prepare ourselves? Do we enter into full meaning of redemption? Do we rededicate ourselves? Do we find it a real means of grace?
