Making the Most 04 The Lord's Supper 032714

Making the Most
of the means of grace
04

4.  The Lord's Supper

I won't even try to get into the issues surrounding the exact nature of the Lord's Supper.  Not only are they too broad for this brief devotion but they are pretty much too deep for me.

Let us lean on Paul for our understanding:

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ESV
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, [24] 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." [25] 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." [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

For me the key to the grace of the Lord's Supper is found in with phrase, "in rememberance of me."

This rememberance is not just about His death though Paul focuses us on that in verse 26.  Rather I think that it is a broader rememberance which encompasses all of what it means to be the Christ, the Promised One, the Redeemer.

This would take us all the way back to Genesis and the promise to Eve.  It would include the Exodus, David's reign, the Prophets, John the Baptist and so very much more.  The rememberance should overwhelm us as it stems all of the history of redemption and not just three years of ministry.

This rememberance is created by the Word, understood better through prayer and is indeed an act of Worship.  Now we see how the "means of grace" work together supporting and enhancing one another.  They are five pillars if you will upon which we build and which build one another.

But back to our "rememberance."  It is a shame that we have so little time in worship for remembernance.  The plate and cup are passed and it's over in just a few moments.  Hardly time to remember anything.

That is why I suggest strongly that we prepare prior to even getting to the worship meeting.  We all usually know when we will celebrate supper and so we can all prepare for partaking as we prepare for worship.
Now I'm going to get wierd.  The Jews counted days from sunset to sunset and this was certainly critical in their preparation for their Sabbath rest and worship.  Let me suggest that we consider emmulating them at least one day a week.  Let our "Sabbath" or Lord's Day begin at sunset on Saturday and run till sunset on Sunday.

My rational is simple.  Let us prepare for worship the night before, especially when we know we will be partaking of the Lord's Supper.  I know we are used to Saturday being "our" day but maybe we can plan it better and use the evening more productively.

*NO - I'm not trying to create a new "law" just a new and beneficial habit.

The Lord's Supper, the rememberance of His redeeming us, the proclamation of His death with the promise of His return should never be a common endeavor.  It is not a "magical" moment but it is in a sense a mystical moment.  It is, at least for me, the moment when I desire all of me to be focused on Him, what he accomplished and what He has promised.  I can't really do that in the typically all too brief "communion service," but I can do that ahead of time so that in those few moments whenI am actually partaking I am truly remembering Him.

Let us take very seriously Pau's admonition:

1 Corinthians 11:27-29 ESV
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. [28] Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29] For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Prepare, oh dearest brothers and sisters, prepare your minds and hearts for those moments when you are partaking.  Do not allow your partaking to be just an act in the moment but make good use of the time before - the night before - to set yoour mind and heart on Him and all there is to remember.

Making the Most - 01 Scripture 032614

Making the Most
of the means of grace
01
The Puritains write quite a bit about the "means of grace."  This is a strange phrase for us today which is unfortunate.

The "means of grace" are,
"....means which God has graciously appointed, in order to convey grace to man's hear by the Holy Ghost, or to keep up the spiritual life after is has begun."  JC Ryle, Practical Religion (Kindle loc. 264)

To keep it simple we will look at five "means of grace in this series.  We don't intend to write an in-depth treatise on each but rather too write devotionally - commonly - concerning these means.

The five means of grace are:
The reading of Scripture
Private prayer
Public worship
The Lord's Supper
The "rest" of the Lord's Day

1.  The reading of Scripture

God has promised that His Word will never be void of some effect.  It will accomplish His will in the llives of the reader.  For the believer the Word is the fundamental component of their spiritual nutritional system.  In the Word we hear from God and about God.  In the Word not only is the character and will of God revealed but His relationship to man (believer and unbeliever) is revealed.

We can all sit and "read" the Word but we must consider the "manner and spirit" in which we do so. (We must do the same with all the means of grace.)  Ryle writes about the difference in using the means of grace, in this case the Word, in a regular and formal manner without any sense of enjoyment but rather simply as a duty.  He holds that to make use of the means of grace in this manner is "utterly worthless and unprofitable."  And we must agree.

Time in the Word should be a time of expectant joy and even a holy curiosity.  The Word is not an "instruction manual" but rather a love letter in which God reveals all of Himself we need to know and all or our selves as well.  One must never go to the Word to just check it off as a duty but rather one should go hungry and expecting to be fed.

Psalm 119 is replete with requests that God teach the writer His statutes, commandment and most importantly His "ways."  His ways are the revelation of not only how He relates to us but how He calls us to relate to Him.  His ways are the boundaries and expectations inherent in a relationship with Him.  Nowhere else can we get the full and unadulterated direction we need to walk in His "ways' except in the Word of God.

Indeed the Word, reading the Word, is a means by which God communicates His grace and He also gives us example after example of that grace operating in the lives of real men and women like you and I.  But do we go to the Word to find that - or, do we go to find what feeds our flesh, scartches our itch or tickles our fancy?

Grace can grow cold when the fire is not stoked and in reading the Word we feed that fire - or in some cases that one little ember.  To forsake the reading of the Word and/or to approach this means of grace as a work is to cut oneself off from the promise of and in the Word - vanity makes all things void, self-love steals grace from our hearts and we live shallow and cold lives.  

PS
Are these posts of any benefit to you?  If they are or are not I would like to hear from you. Your input and/or encouragement would be a blessing and mercy.  You can comment on the blog page or, if you want, you can email me at sheepdog.ms@gmail.com.

Bless you for your help!
Michael