Today is 'biddag vir gewas en arbeid', a day in which we pray for the industry and labor. A day which we ask the Lord to bless our work so that we might by strengthened and support ourselves and our families. Today we also talk about the Lords Supper. A table where God provides the strength and energy to work for him, to labor in his kingdom. A table in which he reminds us that he will sustain us and give us all we need for body and soul. We celebrate this day because we expect all good things from his hand. From the energy to work, to the seed that germinates, and grows, to the rains that fall. It is grace, and the lords Supper reminds us of that grace, and works that grace – that gift – on us.
yYes, we receive the grace of God in and through the Lords Supper. This grace, or Charis (gift), is none other than the full person and work of Jesus Christ. One of the reasons why so many believers receive so little by the attendance of the Lords Supper is that they expect so little. As a theologian writes, “They expect to have their affections somewhat strengthened; but they perhaps rarely expect so to receive Christ as to be filled with all the fulness of God. Yet Christ in offering himself to us…, offers us all of God we are capable of receiving.”
Paul often uses this language as well, when he says in Ephesians 3:19, “that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” ALL the FULLNESS of GOD! This is amazing grace! This is the grace that is offered to you every week again through the preaching and visibly portrayed in the sacraments! This is grace that you a take with you into the week – laboring in his kingdom with the grace that he provides.
The Lords Supper assures broken hungry and thirsty sinners that Christ is for them.
- Christ is given to you in the sacrament.
- Christ unites you together to himself.
Christ is given to you in the sacrament.
In Belgic Confession, Article 35 we confess, “This banquet is a spiritual table at which Christ makes us partakers of himself with all his benefits and gives us his grace to enjoy both himself and the merits of his suffering and death. He nourishes, strengthens, and comforts, our poor desolate souls by the eating of his flesh, and refreshes and renews them by the drinking of his blood.”
I love that wording. It’s a banquet. A feast to overflowing. That is what we pray for this day, that the Lord would provide in such a way that we might feast on his goodness. In it we partake of the Infinite One – Jesus, and all his work. This is a banquet for poor, hungry, thirsty, beggars that come with nothing, and receive everything. So come to the table, weak poor hungry, naked, sinners and be strengthened, fed, clothed, and forgiven. As the Belgic confession so clearly says it, “he comforts our poor, desolate souls and refreshes and renews them by his blood.”
Consider the manna in the wilderness given for the Israelites. God calls this “bread from heaven” in Exodus 16:4, and so does Jesus in John 6:31. What was the point of this bread from heaven? It was given by God to show the people he can be trusted and that he is for them. That he would feed them and care for them. It was given to sustain and satisfy the hunger of God’s people. Is there ever a time when we need nourishment, refreshment, and comfort more than in this time of isolation, loneliness, and division? If we depend on him, God will provide dear church. He will refresh. He will nourish. If we would receive it by faith.
Not only do those who come with empty hands, but they often come with dirty hands! They bring debt. Sins. Wickedness. And are washed. Cleansed. And robed in his righteousness of Christ. and sent out to fight against sin. They leave their sins there! In taking of this bread and cup you are fully identifying yourself no longer with the world, but with the Kingdom of our God and of his Christ. You are part of the kingdom culture. This meal administers the gospel to us! It reminds us who we are and whose we are. We are the people of God; we belong to the kingdom of Heaven, and we united to Christ our Head. We are IN CHRIST!
These words show us that this meal is far more than just a remembrance of Christ death. It is in a very real sense the appropriation of Christ and his work for us. Therefore, Paul said in the text, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” Christ is present physically in a Spiritual sense. Jesus through his Spirit dwells more and more in us as we partake of this Supper. John Calvin says
“Greatly mistaken are those who conceive no presence of the flesh in the Supper unless it lies in the bread. For thus they leave nothing to the secret working of the Spirit, which unites Christ himself to us. As though, if he should lift us to himself, we should not just as much enjoy his presence!” (Institutes, 4.17.31)”
What brother Calvin is saying here is not that our Lord comes down to earth and is sacrificed repeatedly, like the Roman Catholics believe, but that we are drawn up into heaven and are enabled through faith by the Spirit to enjoy precious fellowship with him and those who have been united to him.
God is not mocking you dear children of God; Jesus Christ is not deceiving you when he invites you forward to partake. As surely as that bread and wine becomes a part of you physically, so surely are you being in that moment by faith united to Christ Spiritually! This is real! Don’t take it for granted. Believe it. Its amazing. Mind blowing, really! That is why the confession says with great humility, “We do not understand the manner in which this is done, just as we do not understand the hidden activity of the Spirit of God.”
Finally, Salvation does not come by the sacrament but by faith in what the sacrament signifies, namely Christ. We confess the Belgic Confession, “he is communicated exclusively to the believers.” You receive this by faith. Faith in Christ. This grace is not given automatically to all who believe.
The efficacy of the Lords Supper does not reside in the elements, or in the person administering, or any inherent virtue in the bread or wine themselves. The efficacy of the sacraments is due solely to the blessing of Christ and the working of his Spirit. The bread and wine as representative of Christ body and blood are also only effectual if received by true faith.
The unity of Christ in community
We are united together in Christ by faith through the Spirit. In this time, we are one. Yes, here we celebrate union with Christ – so that whatever is his, may also be called ours. Allegiance and union with Christ eclipse every difference, and every disagreement. When we sit at the Lords Supper together it allows all our differences to be put in perspective. This is why it says in Heidelberg Catechism Q7A 76 that through the Lords Supper we “are united more and more to his sacred body through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and us.” As BC Art 35 reminds us, “Finally, we receive this holy sacrament in the congregation of the people of God with humility and reverence as we together commemorate the death of Christ our Savior with thanksgiving, and we confess our faith in the Christian religion.”
There are people that feel this way or that way about COVID, there are Afrikaners, Dutch, and even American. There are young and old. There are those that are heavy laden and burdened, there are those who come from a week of rest. And all these people gather around a table of our Lord. You might almost call it a family feast.
For the Lord’s supper is not first sacrifice but a meal! It is an intimate family meal where we enjoy fellowship with our Father God by partaking of his Son, and the work which he accomplished for us. It is described as “the Lord's supper (1 Cor 11:20), “the table of the Lord” (10:21), “the breaking of bread” (Acts 2:42; 20:7), “the cup of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27). This means that unlike Roman Catholics or Lutherans we do not see it primarily as an altar, but a table with food and drink spread out upon it, and with a family gathered round it. Calvin starts his section on the Lords Supper in the Institutes of the Christian Religion with the words, “God has received us, once for all, into his family, to hold us not only as servants but as sons.”
The grace we receive at the Lords Supper should shape the way we relate to other people. Interestingly, one of the main ways we can do this is through regular meals. We give thanks for the cup of blessing at the Lords Supper – this spills over in our thanksgiving prayer life at every meal. Every meal becomes an occasion for gratitude. The Lords supper also helps our meals become occasions for giving. Meals are a powerful expression of welcome and friendship in every culture. Eating with people creates community and proclaims grace.
This is not about one person, but this is about a community together united in Christ. Paul uses the phrase ‘when you come together’ five times in 1 Cor 11:17–34 (vv. 17, 18, 20, 33, 34) and expressly links gathering with their identity as a church (vv. 18, 22). In fact, Paul goes so far as to use this phrase as a type of shorthand for the Supper as a whole: ‘when you come together it will not be for judgment’ (v. 34). This is about us coming together in this time in the one faith we share in Christ.
This union is found in the wine and in the bread. As Paul says, because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.’ The one body of believers is gathered as one bread, which points to the one Christ. Or as the Lords Supper Form puts it, “As one bread is baked out of many grains and one wine is pressed out of many grapes, so we all, incorporated in Christ by faith, are together one body.” What this sacrament shows clearly is that it you can’t be individualistic in Christ. You are born into a new family.
This union in Christ is also a union in pursuit of holiness. We cannot have Christ and think we can dabble with the world or in sin in the week. If Christ lives in us, we will more and more hate it. Flee from it. And run toward Christ! this supper faces us all in the same direction again. We come from week or a time where we may be all going in different directions, and every time we come together, we get reoriented to the kingdom values.
If you don’t think you need this sacrament, then there is a chance you have no concept of how poor and desolate you are. We need to be satisfied. And we will only find ultimate satisfaction in God. The only reason we sin is because he is not everything to us yet! And we spend our lives figuring out not that we need Christ less, but that we need him more with every passing day! Until he is truly all in all!!
By eating and drinking together we are united in our need for a savior. We are united in bringing our sins to light and laying them at the foot of the cross, and not holding on to them or hiding them. If we run away and hide our sin, we not only break our relationship with Christ but also with each other.
Let me ask you a few questions? Are you a sinner? Do you recognize your need for a savior? then come! This is for you. For you the broken. Weary. Sinner. Dear church it is Jesus and a spirit wrought faith in him that unites us. And it rises above disagreements. We must never ever see this meal as a platform to protest, but as the only place where the truth can be found, and truly pursued.
On this day of Gewas en Arbeid, the Lord's supper is a reminder that we are dependent on God as creatures. We are not self-sustaining. Much of our food is grown, processed, distributed, and possibly cooked by other people. We are part of a complex web of relationships upon which we rely day by day. And behind them all is our loving Creator, who generously provides for the needs of his creation. This is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11). But The Lords Supper is special. For the Lords Supper is also a recognition that we are dependent on God not just as creatures but also as sinners. We live through the death of his Son. Each mouthful is a reminder that we cannot save ourselves. Just as we rely on daily bread for physical life, so we rely on Jesus for spiritual life. For he is the bread of life.
Every time we gather around the bread and the wine. We confess that we are united to Christ and all that he has done, he has done for us poor desolate souls. To bring refreshment. Healing. Comfort. Nourishment. Joy. Peace and unity. In time and for eternity.
Amen.