Sermon Series: Lord's Supper, Part 1 (1-Mar-2015)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30.

Click here for a PDF file of this sermon series with pictures and footnotes.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

I’d like to begin today with St Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 11, which says:

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Maybe you don’t think the Lord’s Supper is very important. There are many Christians who don’t. Why should we?

Well, everything we believe about the Lord’s Supper comes from what we call the “Words of institution”. Every time we have the Lord’s Supper in church, the pastor recites these words about the history of Jesus’ last supper. And these words appear in the New Testament 4 times, in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and then also in 1 Corinthians. Now normally, I would think that something written out 4 times like this in the New Testament is something that is very important for our Christian life!

But also, it would seem that the Lord’s Supper is a very important thing because of when Jesus actually instituted it. It was done on the night when he was betrayed. This is the Thursday night before Good Friday, the night before he went to suffer and die for the sin of the world—his last night before his death.

In the Old Testament, we read about the old patriarch Jacob and how he calls his 12 sons together and gives them each a blessing before he dies. Before Jesus dies, he also gathers together his 12 disciples for his last supper.

It’s almost like Jesus’ command to the disciples to carry out the Lord’s Supper is like writing a will. When we write a will, we might write down what different people in our family are going to get as their inheritance: so-and-so will get the house, so-and-so will get the car, so-and-so will get this amount of money. And if we were to write a will, there are laws in place to make sure that a person’s final wishes are followed to the letter, because this is so incredibly important.

How much more important do you think it would be if Jesus himself wrote a will. And if we treat a person’s final wishes as so important when we read their will, how much more so do you think Jesus’ words would be—the words not just of a man but of the Son of God himself—that he says to his disciples as his dying wish, that he says on the night when he was betrayed.

But there’s a difference between when we read a person’s will and when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. When we read a person’s will, we read it when they are no longer around, because they have died. But Jesus has not only died, but he has also risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven—so when we read his will, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, Jesus is not dead, but he is alive. In fact, Jesus is the only person whose will we read in their presence. Jesus is not dead and buried, but has risen from the dead, and so he is here, and we read his will in his presence and distribute his property and his gifts not in his absence but in his presence.

In the Gospel of Luke and in 1 Corinthians we read the words of Jesus: Do this in remembrance of me. Is there any other place where Jesus says that we should do something in remembrance of him? Surely, the Lord’s Supper must be something that is just so incredibly important, in fact, it must be one of the most important things, something right at the centre of the church, something that is our greatest desire as Christians, something that we yearn to be part of, something that we love doing and enjoying.

And so, in our sermon today, we are going to talk about what the Lord’s Supper is. Next week, we’ll talk about what it’s for, but today we’re going to talk about what it is.

In the Lutheran church, the way that our Lutheran theology works is like this: we should never ask, “what does the church teach?”, but “what does the Scripture teach?” As Lutherans, we should seek to believe nothing that God doesn’t actually teach in the Scripture himself. The bible itself is the clear and pure word of God, so if we want to know what to believe about something, we need to go straight to the Scripture. We don’t consult our reason, and we don’t consult tradition—we consult the Scripture.

Also, the Lutheran Church has a confession a faith about many topics. This confession of faith is compiled in a number of documents which make up the Book of Concord. So as a Lutheran pastor, what I intend to explain to you about the Lord’s Supper over the next four weeks is what the Scripture teaches about the Lord’s Supper. Also, the Lutheran Church has a united, unanimous teaching on the Lord’s Supper and what I hope to teach is our church’s teaching on the subject. The simplest and shortest confession of faith of the Lutheran Church is the Small Catechism, which has a section on the Lord’s Supper, together with a series of question and answers in the back for people who want to prepare to go the Lord’s Supper.

So what does Jesus actually say that the Lord’s Supper is?

Well, he took bread. And he blessed the bread, and gave it to his disciples and he said: This is my body.

And then he took a cup of wine. And he blessed it, and he gave it to his disciples and he said: This is my blood.

So it has always been our church’s teaching that in the Lord’s Supper, this bread is actually Christ’s body, and this wine is actually Christ’s blood. And the reason why we believe this is simply because Jesus said: This is my body. This is my blood. It’s as simple as that.

Let’s read what the Small Catechism says about it.

What is the Sacrament of the Altar?

It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.

What is first of all important here is that we don’t believe that the bread and wine represents, or symbolises Christ’s body and blood, but that it is his body and blood.

Now, you might have some friends who go to other churches, who don’t believe this about the Lord’s Supper. We’ll come to this in a minute. But I want you to take something into consideration. What we believe about the Lord’s Supper is the most common view held all throughout Christian history, and most Christians who are alive today in the world believe this.

But someone might say? Isn’t this what Catholics believe? Well, yes—they do believe that in the Lord’s Supper is the body and blood of Christ, but they use the philosophy of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to explain it, which gets them into problems. Basically, Aristotle believed that something like bread has an “idea of bread” behind it. There’s something called “breadness” that makes us recognise bread when we see it. There’s something called “glassness” which makes me recognise a glass when I see it. Now, in most cases, we know something is bread, because it tastes like bread, it looks like bread, it smells like bread, it feels like bread. But the Roman Catholic Church, believe that even though it looks like bread, feels like bread, it’s not actually bread—it’s Christ’s body. Now, it’s a strange thing that Jesus’ Supper should need to be explained using the methods of an ancient Greek philosopher.

But anyway, in the Lutheran Church, we agree that the Lord’s Supper is the body and blood of Christ. But the bread and wine are the things that Jesus uses to give us his body and blood. He doesn’t drop them straight out of heaven for us. He gives them to us using bread and wine. As Christians, we’re not interested in eating bread and wine—if you want to do that, go to a nice bakery and a nice winery and buy yourself some good stuff! The bread and wine are the things which Christ uses to give us his body to eat and his blood to drink. In some sense, it’s a bit like the way I carry money in my wallet. I might say to someone, “Pay for that with my money”, and I give them my wallet. The person would be pretty silly to say, “Don’t be silly—that’s not money, that’s just a wallet.” The wallet is the what I use to give you the money. In the same way, the bread and wine is what Christ uses to give you his body to eat and his blood to drink.

So this is our basic understanding of what the Lord’s Supper is.

When Martin Luther was alive, there were two other men who had other ideas about the Lord’s Supper. And the ideas of these two men still survive today in many Protestant churches. The first man was Ulrich Zwingli. Zwingli was a reformer from Switzerland, and he said that the bread in the Lord’s Supper is simply bread, and the wine in the Lord’s Supper is simply wine, and are not the body and blood of Christ, but are simply a remembrance meal. Because Jesus says: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Most Christians who are not Catholic or Orthodox or Lutheran believe this. This is not the Lutheran teaching, and Lutherans believe this is not the teaching of Jesus.

Also, there was another man, called John Calvin, who believed something similar, but said that the bread is not actually Christ’s body, but when we eat the bread, we feed on Christ’s body in heaven in our minds, because Christ is seated at the right hand of God in heaven, and not in the Lord’s Supper. So we don’t eat Christ’s body with our mouths, but only with our minds. With our minds mouths we only eat bread. Now, this view is found mostly in the Presbyterian Church, and is also quite common in the Anglican Church. Now, this is also not the Lutheran teaching, and Lutherans believe that this is not the teaching of Jesus. We believe that in the Lord’s Supper what we eat is Christ’s body and what we drink is his blood.

There’s another way in which people can mock the Lutheran teaching. They make out as if we’re eating Jesus’ flesh, like meat, and grinding up his bones with our teeth. This is not what we believe, and this is blasphemy. Jesus didn’t say: This is my arm, or this is my fingernail. He said: This is my body. And for us, this is the body of Christ that died and rose from the dead, and that is filled with all of Christ’s supernatural power and the Holy Spirit.

So how do we explain this? Many Christians like Zwingli and Calvin say: “It’s just not possible—Jesus can’t be in two places at once.” Is Jesus seated at the right hand of God, or is he in the Lord’s Supper? Well, yes, of course, Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father. But when Jesus ascended into heaven, he didn’t go up in a space ship to another planet, so that we can find him at coordinate J14 on map 105. When we pray to God, we talk to him quietly and sometimes in our heads, because we believe he’s here. God is to be found everywhere and anywhere. And if God is everywhere, then his right hand is everywhere. And if Jesus is seated at God’s right hand, then it means that Jesus both in spirit and soul, and in his flesh and blood, can be wherever he chooses to be and wherever he says he will be. So Jesus is not stuck up in the clouds somewhere. But he is seated at God’s right hand so that he can be wherever he says he will be. So, yes, Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father, but he is also in the Lord’s Supper. This Lord’s Supper is prepared by God’s hands and given to us by God’s hands.

But what about the words: “Do this in remembrance of me”? Is the Lord’s Supper just a memorial meal, but not his body and blood? In English, when we say, “remember”, we often mean something that happens in our minds. But in the bible, in Hebrew, “remember” means something that we do.

So, for example, there is an occasion in the book of Genesis, where Joseph is in prison, and he interprets the dreams of two prisoners. One of the prisoners is the Pharoah’s cupbearer. Joseph asks the cupbearer when he gets out of prison: “Remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharoah.” When Joseph says, “Remember me”, he means, “Do something to get me out of prison”. It would be no use for the cupbearer to simply stand in front of Pharoah and think about Joseph, but not do anything about it!

Also, in 1 Samuel chapter 1, we read about a husband and wife, Elkanah and Hannah. Hannah is barren and they are unable to have any children. Hannah prays for a long time to have a child. Eventually we read: Elkanah knew his wife and the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. Now when it says: The Lord remembered her, it doesn’t mean, he just thought about her, but it means that he allowed her to conceive a child. God actually did something for her when he remembered her.

Or one other example. I happen to be married. And once a year, my wife and I have a wedding anniversary. Now could you imagine a couple on their wedding anniversary, and the husband doesn’t mention the anniversary all day. Then late at night, the wife gets a bit upset, and says: “Have you forgotten something?...Like our wedding anniversary?” And he says: “No, I haven’t forgotten. I’ve been thinking about it all day.” Now, that’s no use. He needs to say something to her, congratulate her, give her a hug and a kiss, buy a present or a card, some flowers and chocolate. If he remembers the anniversary, it means that he does something.

And so, when Jesus says, Do this in remembrance of me, it doesn’t mean, this is just bread and wine, and then in our minds somewhere we remember Jesus. No—we remember Jesus by doing something. We remember him by eating his body and drinking his blood.

If all of this was so impossible for Jesus, why would he mess around with words on the night he was betrayed? Doesn’t Jesus know how to talk properly? Sure, sometimes he says, “I am the door”, or “I am the vine”, but this is not a sermon here. This is Jesus’ last will and testament to his disciples—do you think he’s going to say something that’s not really true? Is Jesus a liar? If he passes around bread and says, “This is my body”, and he has all the power in heaven and earth in his hands, don’t you think he can do it?

I remember once sitting with a guy who believed what Zwingli believed, that it was just a memorial meal. And he went around and around, telling me all the reasons why the Lord’s Supper is not Christ’s body and blood. And I simply said to him, “The only problem with what you say is that Jesus said: This is my body.” He got frustrated and said, “You Lutherans! When all your arguments fall in a heap, you just come back to that.” And I said, “But I’m not the one who’s arguing with Jesus.”

If we want to take Jesus’ words seriously, the only thing that is possible to believe is that when Jesus says: This is my body, that it means that it’s his body that we eat in the Lord’s Supper. And we know this, because of the simplicity and the clarity of Jesus’ words. He said it, I believe it, and that settles it.

Next week in our sermon, we’re going to talk about what the Lord’s Supper is for, why does Jesus give it to us. For now, I’d like to leave you with the simple words of Jesus: This is my body. This is my blood. If we really thought about these eight words, they should completely blow our minds! We can’t begin to imagine what an amazing miracle Christ performs for us in the Lord’s Supper week after week! If what Jesus says is true, (and of course it is true!) it would change the way we think forever, the way we act, the way we behave, the way we pray. These words: This is my body, show us the wonderful mystery of the Lord’s Supper, and that the Lord’s Supper is not an add-on, but is right at the heart and the centre of our faith.

Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us your body to eat and your blood to drink in the Lord’s Supper. Teach us to receive these wonderful gifts from your hands with thanksgiving. Amen.