Do you understand the significance of Christians celebrating communion? There's a lot of controversy around this practice, and today on Truth for Life weekend, we'll consider what it is and what it isn't as Alastair Begg walks us through Jesus' final Passover celebration with his disciples.
Now, when you read Luke 22, when you read the account in Matthew and in Mark. When you read 1 Corinthians chapter 11, the words of institution, as we refer to them, where Paul says, for I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and he broke it and he gave it to his disciples and he said, so on. We're dealing in terminology that for any of us who have been around church buildings for any length of time, we're familiar with it. we have some kind of perception of it. But we're also dealing with material that has been the basis of terrific misunderstanding.
and provides for some of us a basis for an unjustifiable security. And indeed, some of us feel intensely guilty because we have come out of a background where that was everything to us, and now it means largely nothing to us. And every so often we say to ourselves, I wonder if I'm on the completely wrong track.
So I want to pause for a moment and identify with you the First of all, the beauty and the structure of the Passover meal itself. This is my best attempt at this.
Some of you who are from a Jewish background, I'm sure, will immediately be on your feet to help me out and to clarify things in a way that I'm unable to do. But in my own reading, this is what I've discovered. The Passover meal, and incidentally, I have attended at my Jewish friend's home the Seder as well. I tried my best to follow it when I was going through it, and some of you will have done the same. There were several cups of wine which were drunk and which are drunk during the celebration of what is a very moving ritual.
The first cup is brought in and drunk before the arrival of the traditional food. Incidentally, when you realize that there are four distinct drinking of the cups, This will help you when you go to Luke's Gospel and it says you're trying to work out.
Well, I thought he said the bread, but then he said the cup, and then he said the cup again. Then I thought that was after supper, the cup. What's going on?
Well, the Jewish people would understand it perfectly because they knew the nature of the Passover ritual. Gentiles, we haven't a clue really what's going on, so we need to go back and understand it. The first cup was drunk before the arrival of the food. When the traditional food arrived, the youngest member in the household was then given the privilege and responsibility of asking the traditional question. Why do we eat these foods on this night?
The reply was then given by the father or the elder member of the household who would be conducting the Passover celebration. And in reply, the father would recount the story of the Exodus. That would then be followed by the singing or the chanting or the repeating of some of the Old Testament Psalms. Not just any, but Psalm 113 to Psalm 115. Following that, the second cup would be passed around.
And just before the meal was eaten, the plate of unleavened bread would be lifted up and the words would then be spoken. This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Let everyone who hungers come and eat. Let everyone who is needy come and eat the Passover meal. Then the father would give thanks for the bread.
He would break off a piece for each person who was present. And then that in turn would be passed around the group until all had received. It was then customary for that bread to be eaten in silence. But on this particular occasion, Jesus inserts something into the proceedings. And he doesn't just say something, he says something of incredible significance.
As they receive the bread in the routine fashion, he says to them, This is my body. given for you. I want you to do this in remembrance of me.
Now for us again, because we've gone through this hundreds of times, it just passes over us. But for the disciples on this occasion eating the Passover in the customary ritualistic fashion of the Old Testament scriptures, this was a major intervention. There is no indication of them saying anything, but they must have looked at one another and realized that Jesus was saying, I myself am the Passover bread. And they were bright enough to understand that he was saying that his life was going to be given as a substitute for the people. When they ate the meal, And that was then completed.
The father would take the third cup of wine. Bless it. Pass it around. And then again they would sing from the Psalms, this time Psalm 116 to 118.
Now, at what point was it then that Jesus says, I'm not going to drink any more of the fruit of the vine? I think it was probably... After the third cup of wine had been drunk, As the third cup is about to be drunk, Jesus introduces another new element to the celebration. He says, gentlemen, just before we drink this, or as you're about to drink it, let me just say something to you. This cup here, Is the new covenant in my blood?
which is poured out for you.
Now again, think about this. The men themselves are routinely looking backwards to all that had been accomplished in the Exodus. The blood of the Lamb had been shed. The angel came, did not wreak vengeance and death on that home because it was under the blood. And therefore they enjoyed the liberation of the freedom and the entry into Canaan.
They were looking back. But now Jesus says, as you take this cup, I want you to know that this cup... Is the new covenant. In the past, your father covenanted with his people in order to do this, but I want you to know that in this cup, There is the very picture and portrayal of all that I am about to do in my exodus, in my departure, in my going through death. For you.
And they were then to drink the cup. as an expression of their communion. with Jesus. And the final difference was then announced. He says, I'm not going to drink the fruit of the vine again.
Until I drink it anew with you in the kingdom of God until we get together in that great messianic banquet, is probably what he means. And I think there's a fair chance that he didn't drink the fourth cup. That having drunk the third cup with him, and he said, This cup is the new covenant of my blood, he took the fourth cup, the grand finale that brought the end to the Passover, and he left it on the table. He says, I'm not going to drink this anymore until we drink it anew in the kingdom of God. In other words, he wasn't truncating the Passover, he was pointing out that the Passover was leading to something far more significant and far more wonderful.
When, in this great celebration, God would gather his own from every nation and tribe and language and tongue, and in the great celebration of the Lamb would rejoice in communion in a way that we could never know before. before.
Okay?
Now, to the extent that that is an accurate representation, at least in part of what was going on, we need to make some observations so that we can be clear about this. And here they are. Number one, we should be absolutely clear concerning this notion of a new covenant. A new covenant. What Jesus is saying is that he is the Passover lamb sacrificed for us.
Paul actually uses that terminology when he is addressing the problems of immorality in the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7. The point is that by his death, Jesus is accomplishing a new exodus. Just as the shedding of blood back in Egypt made possible the liberation of men and women from the bondage and enslavement of Egypt, so his death upon the cross was to make possible the liberation of men and women from the bondage of sin. to set the liar free from a lying tongue. to set the adulterer free.
from the residual impact of his folly. And by means of Jesus' sacrifice, God binds sinners to himself. and brings them deliverance. from their bondage to sin. Be of sin, the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt.
and power. And in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, there is cleansing both from the guilt and the power of sin. It's a new covenant. Secondly, The focus in all that takes place. is on Jesus, not on the bread, and not on the wine.
The focus is on Jesus. When Jesus said, this is my body, or this cup is my blood. The fact that he was present made it unmistakably clear that the elements to which he pointed were symbols of Jesus himself. Nobody would think anything other than that unless over hundreds and hundreds of years a philosophical presupposition had been so taught, so ingrained, so emphasized. as to make people assume that what Jesus was talking about was actually literally the eating of his own flesh and the drinking of his own blood.
The elements of bread and wine. Were symbols of Jesus himself, they were not magically transformed into something else. I'll say more about this in just a moment, but it is vitally important to recognize that in the breaking of bread, in the sharing of communion, the focus is not upon the elements, but upon Jesus who gives to us the elements. Thirdly, the Lord's Supper underlines the importance of our communion with Jesus. That's why I've said what I've said.
It's not about rules and regulations, it's about communion with Jesus. You don't want to miss people's parties, do you? You don't want to miss their birthday party. That'd be a dreadful insult to your children. It's a dreadful insult to your wife or to someone whom you love or to a member of your extended circle of friends.
They send the invitation out. I would love for you to be present. He said, Oh, forget that. It doesn't matter. There'll be somebody else there.
Someone else will go instead of me.
Someone else can take the place. I'm sure there's a great crowd going, it's irrelevant.
Well, if I respond in that way, what I'm seeing is that the invitation is either disingenuous or my reaction to it simply reveals my heart, that I frankly don't care whether I'm with the person or not, that I don't care that they've extended such a generous invitation, that they've invited me to eat, that they've invited me to think, that they've invited me to be in partnership with them, and so I just dismiss it. I'd love you to come on such and such a day to eat with me. What is this, a regulation? I invite you to come on such and such a day to eat with me. I love you.
And I love spending time with you. And I was under the impression that you had actually, by your testimony in baptism, indicated that you love spending time with me as well.
Sorry, I must have got it wrong. What are we doing when we share in the Lord's Supper? We're focusing on the new covenant. We're focusing on Christ. We're focusing on communion with Christ.
And finally, we're doing so in such a way. that we can look forward. to all that he still has. In store for us. In 1 Corinthians 11:20, it says that we are doing these things, we are proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes.
So Inasmuch as this provides us with an opportunity to remind ourselves of these things, I've done so. And I want to take just a final moment. to acknowledge that there is a tremendous amount of controversy, as I say, in relationship to these issues. And I have no interest in adding to the controversy. But in the issue of clarity, I want to tell you this again.
At least a third of you have come from a Roman Catholic background. Bringing with you a mixture of notions about what happens.
Some of your notions are still vague and unclear. The participation of some of you in Roman Catholic masses declares the fact that you don't understand what is happening in a Roman Catholic Mass. And if you think that what is happening in a Roman Catholic Mass is just a souped-up version of what is happening in a Protestant communion, you're wrong. And you need to know. And the reason you need to know is not in order that you might be able to malign people who do differently, but in order that you might be able to rejoice in the reality of a new covenant, of communion with Jesus, and the focus on Him and the anticipation of what it will mean to finally share in His presence.
Let me say this to you. Traditional Roman Catholic theology. asserts That in the celebration of the Mass, The body of Jesus And the blood of Jesus is literally present. That, as a result of the consecration of the officiating priest, a transubstantiation takes place. And if you participate in a Roman Catholic Mass, You are associating willfully with this doctrine.
That's why I never would and I never will. Because it is counter to what the Bible teaches. The final report of the Anglo-Roman Catholic International Commission, which is a recent commission, which is a very irenic statement of things. declares The elements are not mere signs. Christ's body and blood become really present.
and are really given.
Okay?
At the same time, the understanding of the Mass, and I get so much mail about this, telling me that it is really wrong for me to say this. The understanding of the of the mass. is that in The officiating ceremony What takes place with the body and blood of Jesus is a propitiatory sacrifice. In the Old Testament, there was a sacrifice for the removal of sin, which was propitiatory, and then there was a celebratory sacrifice, which was then offered up in recognition of the propitiation that had already taken place. The Protestant Reformed understanding of the communion is that Christ once and for all, read the book of Hebrews, has been offered up in his body on the tree and has once for all made a sacrifice for sin.
Therefore, what takes place in communion is not a propitiatory event at all, but it is a celebratory event. recognizing that it is done once and for all. Therefore, when we take the symbols and the elements, we look back to a once accomplished sacrifice for all. The Roman Catholic does not. The Roman Catholic is brought to the Mass because, in the Mass, and I quote.
Is in this divine sacrifice, which is celebrated in the Mass. This is the Council of Trent, that same Christ. Is contained and immolated in an unbloody manner. who once offered himself in a bloody manner. on the altar of the cross.
The Holy Synod teaches that this sacrifice is truly propitiatory. And that by means thereof this is effected, that we obtain mercy.
Now listen and listen to me carefully. Many of the Roman Catholic loyalty do not even know what their church teaches.
So they call me and they write to me and they say, nobody believes that anymore. Oh, well then hey, come and join us. And the fact that there are conciliatory theologians. Keen to escape from the straitjacket which has been created for them in the Council of Trent, the church's official position remains unambiguous. And that brings me to the third thing that they do, which is clearly wrong.
The adoration of the host. The host. The hostia. being the sacrifice. The bread.
The ringing of the bell, the walking around with it. Why did he do that?
Well, it is perfectly logical. If transubstantiation is true. If, as a result of the consecrated work of the priest, this literal bread becomes the literal body of Christ, then of course we are to worship God.
So if in that little chamber is God, Then go ahead and worship. But if in that little chamber is nothing other than bread, Then to worship it is idolatry. Superstition. And all of the fear that attaches to it. You see, when you raise your children, And you teach them things.
If you draw for them a horse, without drawing for la macau. Then when you drive with them in the car Everything that you see that has four legs and hair hanging down at a tall will be referred to as a horse. There's a horse. Harcy, Harcy, Harsh. No, no, no, no, huh.
No, that's not a horse, that's a cow. No, no, that's a horse. You told me a horse looked like that. Why didn't you tell me that a cow looked like that? If you told me that a cow looked like that, I wouldn't be sitting in the back of the car being so silly.
That's the reason I do what I do here. Because I could go through these things and say to you that the focus is on the new covenant. The focus is on Christ, not the elements. The focus is on communion with Christ. And the focus is on the fact that one day we will celebrate this in eternity.
And everybody nods their heads. And if I did post-sermon interviews, I would discover that many of you were reading into the words that I said the very things that I've just described, which I don't believe at all, are taught for one small second in the pages of the Bible.
So yes, we are a non-denominational church. But we are a Protestant church. And the indication of our non-denominationalism is not an expression of the fact that we simply believe whatever there is to believe. Our beliefs and our convictions are grounded in a historic Protestant faith. The faith for which martyrs died.
And the faith upon which we take our stand. And the faith for which our missionaries in Bolivia today Are under intense scrutiny and sometimes persecution. Therefore, Because of all of this and more, it is crucial that we are clear that when Jesus said, this is my body and this is my blood, that he meant what he meant and not what we've been told that he meant. And as a result of which we of the erring Protestant wing of the Church. will eventually be wooed back into communion with the synods.
when we're prepared to to think properly about these things, but until such times We're not welcome. to share the mass.
Well, every one of you is welcome to share the Lord's Supper. Provided you realize that in his death there was an exodus for your sin. And that when you come and you take that bread and you take that cup and you share in those symbols, it is a reminder to you there was a day and a time in my life where I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior. And tonight, as I take this bread and this cup, I look back to the wonder of what He has done. And all of my confidence that I will one day be in heaven is not as a result of having been at the communion service here tonight, but it is as a result of the fact that the communion service here this evening has reminded me that I need no other argument and I need no other plea, and it is enough that Jesus died.
and that he died for me. and in an age of increasing syncretism and confusion. I owe it to you. to not only show you what a horse is, but to explain that a horse is not a cow. Otherwise you'll go out and milk horses and ride cows.
That'd be really funny looking. You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend with Alistair Begg. Here at Truth for Life, we absolutely love the local church and strive to encourage the men who are called to lead local churches as pastors. Our mission statement reflects this passion. We're committed to teaching the Bible in a clear and understandable way.
We trust that God's Spirit will work through the teaching to reach unbelievers and draw believers closer to Himself. And our prayer is that, as a result, local churches will be strengthened and more committed to the proclamation of the gospel. We often hear from pastors who tell us how much they value the Bible teaching and encouragement they receive from Truth for Life. and that's why we created a feature on our website specifically for pastors and churches. If you lead a church, a ministry, a Sunday school class, or a Bible study, visit truthforlife.org slash churches.
There you will find free and low-cost Bible teaching materials to strengthen your ministry and your church family. I'm Bob Lepine. Thanks for listening. Are we always responsible for our sin or is it possible that God sometimes programs us to do something we otherwise wouldn't do in order to fulfill His overarching purpose? We'll think that through together next weekend.
The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Uh Where the learning is for a living.
