The Gifts We’ve Been Given
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which 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 He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
— 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NASB
Somehow we have come to believe that if we want to know how something works, we need to take it apart. We dissect it and study each individual element, identifying and quantifying, assessing and appraising. When all the pieces are laid out, pinned to the board, and labeled, we can point to it and say, “See, this is how it works!”
Some will draw arrows to point out how the elements function and interact. Others will focus on one item and say, “This is the most important piece. It wouldn’t work at all without this.” Another will say the same thing, but about another part. While those two are bickering, someone else, who wasn’t there for the dissection, will argue that it would work more efficiently to put it together this way. And the historian will tell you all about how it worked in days past.
But no one will notice that as long as it’s pinned to the board, it doesn’t work.
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
— Acts 2:42
So the first thing to do if we need to reinvigorate the practice of the Lord’s Supper in our gatherings is to, well, practice it. The blessing of communion is in taking part, not in talking about it or studying it. This is not to say that we don’t need to use words. The disciples in Acts 2 devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. But it seems that they broke the bread without worrying too much about what was happening to it. And the apostles’ teaching was sufficient to lead them in this practice.
Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
— 1 Corinthians 10:16
It is good for us to consider that our interest in what precisely happens to the physical elements of the bread and wine was not the concern of the apostles. And even in our age when we feel the need to know the science behind everything that we take part in, we are called to take what the Scriptures say as sufficient to answer our questions about faith and practice. Does the Lord’s Supper actually do anything? The apostle Paul says that it unites us in the body and blood of Christ. So this is language we can use as we lead in our churches. We share life when we take part.
For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
— 1 Corinthians 11:29
As we wonder if the Lord’s Supper is merely a memorial, it is well for us to consider that the apostle Paul tells us that we are eating and drinking God’s judgment onto ourselves if we are not taking care to see Christ’s body in the church as we partake. The Scriptures give us no “merely” when we take part. It is either a cup of blessing or a curse on us. We are called to take care and examine ourselves in light of the gravity of Christ’s death.
I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
— John 6:51
Jesus used these words to winnow his followers. We should never shrink back from using His words, from seeking His understanding, from leaning on His Spirit to answer our questions. And if there is a “merely” involved in the Lord’s Supper, it should be His church merely following the gift of His command to take, eat, and drink.
