What is the place and purpose of the Lord's Supper? Sadly, in many churches the Lord's Supper is simply an add-on, something haphazardly attached to the worship service once every few months. However, the Lord intended the ordinance as worship and a means of blessing and grace. Jason Dohm examines the Scriptures that teach on the proper place of the Supper in worship, and the purpose of the Supper as a means of grace for the church.

The National Center for Family Integrated Churches welcomes Jason Dohme with the following message entitled, The Lord's Supper as worship. So our title this morning is The Lord's Supper as Worship. Ninety-nine point nine, probably, percent of us grew up in churches where communion was a weird bolt on to worship. When I say bolt on I mean kind of an awkward afterthought that you stick on the side of the main thing. And when you come to the New Testament you have to ask yourself, is this what we see?

Do we see the Lord's Supper as a strange bolt-on to the main thing? The question isn't is communion, is the Lord's Supper worshipful? Everybody agrees that it's worshipful. The question is what place did God intend for it so that we make sure we're giving it the same place that God intended it to have. So the thesis of my time this morning, what I'll be trying to prove, is that God intended the Lord's Supper to have a place of honor among his people.

Not to be an awkward afterthought that gets stuck on the side of the main thing every once in a while, but that what God has done is designed something to be a significant means of grace. What I mean by that is a channel for His grace to flow through to His people. And I think if we begin to observe the Lord's Supper as we see it observed in the New Testament. We're going to find it to be that. A channel of the grace of God to his people.

And we're going to find ourselves to be helped in a hundred different ways. So let's begin our time in prayer. Our Father, I thank You for the work of Christ. Our life is founded in the work of Christ. And I pray that You would help us to observe this practice that you've given to your people in a way that would bring honor to Him, that Christ in His work would be highly lifted up and exalted among your people through our observance of the Lord's Supper.

May it be so in Jesus' name, amen. So here's the roadmap for our time. Here's where we'll be going. First, we'll be looking at the place the Lord's Supper occupied in the early church's worship. So we're going to go back to the early church and see, look at their observance of the Lord's Supper and see the place that it had.

And then when we're done with that secondly we're going to see how the Lord's Supper fits into New Testament worship according to the flagship text that bring us instructions about the Lord's Supper. In other words, how does it function for us? So the two things we're doing is looking at how did it function for them, What place did it take for them in the early church and? How will it function for us? What is it intended to do?

To help us to worship Okay, number one the place the Lord's up you're occupied in the early churches worship Have three texts are really just three single verses, but they say something very profound about what God has intended for the Lord's Supper. The first is Acts 2 verse 42. And in Acts 2 this is Pentecost this is this wonderful sermon that Peter preaches, powerful sermon that Peter preaches. And the Spirit is poured out and people are saved in droves. Three thousand souls are added to the church and are baptized in Pentecost.

And then in Acts 2 42 we learn what this early church, what this baby church is devoting itself to, the practices that the early church is devoting itself to. Listen to Acts 2 42 and they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers." The phrase that I'm interested in here is the breaking of bread. And it's a phrase that You find in Matthew 26, you find in Mark 14. You find in Luke 22. You find in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11.

And these are all the places where you find the Lord's Supper. The Matthew, Mark, and Luke chapters that I quoted are the institution of the Lord's Supper, the Passover feast, the Last Supper. And 1 Corinthians 10 and 11 is Paul giving instructions for the Lord's Supper. And so the breaking of bread is a phrase, is a term pulled out of those Lord's Supper texts. And often in the New Testament where it said breaking of bread, it's synonymous.

It means the Lord's Supper. It means observing communion. And so there are a few places where it doesn't but it's obvious from context. So you go to those places when you see the phrase, the breaking of bread, you look at the context and often you can tell this means the Lord's Supper. Acts 2 42 is one of those places.

So here's what you have in Acts 2 42. It's really quite remarkable. You have preaching. Now these are things that this early church was continuing steadfastly in. That's the words of the text.

They continued steadfastly in these things. Preaching. Got it. I understand that then on the other end on the back and you have prayer so we would say yes we would hardly affirm yes continuing steadfastly in preaching yes continuing steadfastly in prayer. Sandwiched in the middle here, we have the breaking of bread.

They were continuing steadfastly. They were giving themselves in the early church to the observance of the Lord's Supper. Does this sound annual to you? Does this sound quarterly to you? When it says that the early church was continuing steadfastly in the breaking of bread, that is not annual, that is not quarterly.

This was meant to be an ongoing part of the life of the local church. And To the extent that we've lost that, we've lost something that God intended to be a channel of blessing and grace for his people. It needs to be recovered. Number two. Acts 20 verse 7.

Acts 20 verse 7. Listen. Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. We come to this verse, Acts 20 verse 17, Acts 20 verse 7, and we see Paul preaching until midnight. But that's not actually what the verse said is the reason for the gathering.

Listen again. Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread. They were coming together to break bread. The purpose of their gathering was to break bread. Here's that term again for the Lord's Supper for observing communion.

And the reason they were doing it wasn't primarily to hear the Apostle Paul preach. Now I'm not diminishing the preaching of the Apostle Paul, far from it. I wish I had been there, so to you. But the reason for their gathering was to break bread. Number three, 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 20.

1st Corinthians 11 20. We're going to spend more time in this passage but for now let's just look at that verse. Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper." Paul's talking about the gathering together of the church in one place and he said, it's not to eat the Lord's Supper and that's not good news. This is, when we go back and look at it in context, this is a rebuke. He's saying you're not coming together to take the Lord's Supper.

That ought to be central to your gathering, but you're not. I rebuke you. That's what Paul's doing in 1120. So it may have been a bolt-on, it may have been an awkward afterthought in the churches that we grew up in, but it was not an awkward afterthought in the New Testament church. The Lord's supper enjoyed a place of honor in the meetings of the people of God in the early church.

And it sustained them, this worship of the early church sustained them through tremendous trial and persecution, didn't it? Didn't the worship of the early church sustain them through all manner of trial and persecution in the early church? It made them ready for it. It made them ready to stand for God in the face of a whole world that was raging against God. We need worship like that.

That's really all I'm here to say. We need worship like early church worship, New Testament worship, and A central part of that worship is remembering what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us by partaking of the Lord's Supper. We need to continually, we need to continue steadfastly in the things that they were continuing in steadfastly because it made them ready to stand. And our turn's coming, brothers and sisters. Our turn is coming.

If you can't see that, you can't see very far at all. And we're going to need to be ready to stand in the face of overwhelming opposition and trial and persecution and worship like the early church had will make us ready for that. Okay, that's the place that the Lord's Supper enjoyed, the place of honor that the Lord's Supper enjoyed in the early church. Now, secondly, how does the Lord's Supper fit into New Testament worship? What should the function functions of it be for us?

So I want to begin by considering the three texts in the gospels that record the very first Lord's Supper. Now imagine this. Jesus himself hosted the first Lord's Supper. Speaking of places I would like to have been, that might rise to the top of the list or its top five anyway. Jesus himself hosted the very first Lord's Supper and he gave this as a practice to his disciples.

So I want us to turn together to Matthew 26. This is the first recorded observance of the Lord's Supper in the New Testament. Matthew 26. If you've got your Bibles open. Matthew 26 verse 17.

Now on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying to him, where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the passover skipping diverse twenty when evening had come he sat down with twelve escaping diverse twenty six and as they were eating jesus took bread blast and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is my body. Then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins but I say to you I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom brothers and sisters this is holy ground maybe we should take off our shoes When we come to the text where Jesus is hosting the Passover feast just before dying for the sins of those who would trust in him, this is holy ground. Often the objection to observing the Lord's Supper every week or frequently is that familiarity often breeds contempt.

In other words, the things that you do over and over, things that you do often you begin to take for granted. And so that can be an objection from doing it frequently but that's not the cure that's not the cure for the tendency of our hearts to take things that we do frequently and begin to take them from granted. The cure is to treat these things as precious, to be careful with them, to give them the attention that God has designed them to have and to make war against those things in our hearts that would make them become commonplace heaven forbid that the Lord's Supper should ever be commonplace and treated with contempt just because we do it frequently that is no reason not to observe this frequently The first thing that we notice in this passage is that it is the Passover feast. It's the feast of unleavened bread. And Jesus tells his disciples to make ready for the Passover.

So the Lord's Supper is what I want to call a replacement ordinance. Lord's Supper is a replacement ordinance. Jesus took the opportunity of the Passover feast to initiate a new ordinance that he's giving to the New Testament Church. Verse 28, this is my blood of the New Covenant in the Old Covenant there are many many many many many many ordinances In the New Covenant there are two. Two to replace all that list of ordinances that were to be observed by the old covenant people of God are swept away in the New Covenant and to remain baptism which is to happen at the new birth when a person's been born again it's to happen once and the Lord's Supper, which is ongoing.

So one. At the time of saving grace. And the other. To observe the sustaining grace of God. To think about the sustaining grace of God.

You know, we're not any more able to sustain ourselves than we were to save ourselves. You cannot save yourself. Almost all Christians would stand up and say, Amen to that. We have no ability to save ourselves, but it's just as true that we have not any ability to sustain ourselves. We need the grace of God every day after being saved as much as we did the day we were saved so we celebrate baptism we cheer and clap At our church we cheer and clap when they come up out of the water.

We celebrate. God has raised someone from the dead and that ought to be celebrated. But His grace does not stop there. We need a sustaining grace. And God has given us the Lord's Supper to celebrate His sustaining grace.

Think of the Passover. Think of how dramatic this moment is when Jesus himself hosts the Passover feast. The Passover only and always ever pointed to Jesus Christ. It was about a people in bondage being liberated. It was about the destroying angel to come and render what was due to sinners.

It was about a lamb without blemish being killed in the blood being applied so the destroying angel would pass over the people of God's choosing now Jesus the substance of what was always just a foreshadowing, comes on the scene and hosts a Passover dinner. In Exodus 12, When we see where God gives instructions about the Passover, it's really interesting. That text ends up saying, your children, when you do this, are going to ask, what's this about? Your children are going to ask what this about and then you tell them what God has done for you. There is no better time to preach the gospel to five year olds than the Lord's Supper.

We have some men in our congregation that are really good at this I'm watching and they're whispering in the ears of four-year-olds and five-year-olds and seven-year-olds when the Lord's Supper happening and they're they're talking about what God has done for them They're talking about the liberation from the penalty of sin and death that comes through the blood of Jesus Christ. That was part of the Passover that children are going to want to know what this is all about. It's a time to whisper in the ears of four and five-year-olds. And so it should be for the Lord's Supper an opportunity for children to understand why we're doing these things what the Lord has done for us next we see that there are symbols given. There are symbols for the body.

There's bread to be broken. There are symbols for the blood of Jesus Christ that purchases freedom from sin, the cup. And so on full display in the Lord's Supper is substitutionary atonement. The just Jesus Christ, the one who never sinned, dying for the unjust, Sinners like you and me who have lived every day of our lives in rebellion. One standing as a substitute.

A spotless lamb. A lamb without blemish. Standing as a substitute for a guilty party and what this does when we take these symbols and give them the place of honor that God intended them to have what this does for us is it keeps the work of the Lord Jesus Christ central in the life of the church. Does the church need anything more than that? Something to help us keep the work of the Lord Jesus Christ at the center of all that we're thinking and doing and praising God for.

So God has given us something that he blessed. When you read these texts of this Passover feast, you find Jesus blessing the bread, giving thanks for the bread and the cup so he's given us something that he blessed and a source of Thanksgiving we ought to come and we ought to partake we ought to be thankful We ought to give thanks for what God has done. We also see that there is a picture pointing forward. Now that's what the Passover feast did. It was pointing forward to Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. This is one of the ways that he is. He fulfills the picture of the Passover feast. And in many ways, the Lord's Supper is a pointing back. So Passover pointing forward to Jesus, the Lord's supper pointing back to the work of jesus on the cross and dying and raising from the dead but it's not just pointing back there's also and unfulfilled remainder where jesus says I won't partake of this until I do in my Father's kingdom.

And it's pointing forward still, there's still a picture pointing forward to something, a glorious wedding feast where all those who have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ will join together to rejoice and be married to a perfect groom. What a thought for the life of the church that a day is coming where there's going to be a wedding feast and we are the bride the expectant bride the bride they can't wait to get to the altar for that groom that's us and so God in this is giving us a pilgrim mentality you find this many places in the New Testament that the Lord desires for his people to have a pilgrim mentality in other words we don't belong here we're not supposed to belong here we're supposed to understand that our citizenship has been transferred and that we're now citizens of a better country we're looking forward To being in that better country with the king. That country, and this is one of the ways that God is pressing on his people, a pilgrim mentality that we think of ourselves as sojourners, as wanderers who are waiting to come into the country that he is prepared for us.

So there ought to be a lot of joy in the observance of the Lord's Supper. There's soberness because we're thinking about the death of our Lord, so it's a sober of joy but it ought to be full of joy so we think of what he has done for us but where he's taking us and the wedding feast what will increase the intensity of worship for us more than a serious consideration of the cross what is it have you ever felt like you've needed help in your worship you've just felt so cold in your worship felt so unprepared so unready to come into the presence of Almighty God so in need of help God has sent help in the form of the Lord's Supper to increase the intensity of our worship as we take in our hands the symbols the bread the broken body of jesus christ and the cop the blood of the new covenant that purchase the forgiveness of sounds if you want to increase the intensity of your worship squeeze the last drop of good out of the Lord's Supper time that's Matthew 26 mark 14 is so similar to Matthew 26 I'm passing right over the top of it you can look at it later it's a good supplement but it says almost exactly the same things as we see there's so much commonality Luke 22 records the same night the same Passover feast and there's lots of overlap there as well.

Here are a couple of things that are different in Luke 22. You'd find this in Luke 22, 14 through 20. And I'm just going to be touching on a couple of points that you don't find in Matthew or mark in verse 15 Luke 22 verse 15 says Jesus says with fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you with fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover feast with you anytime scripture says that God has a fervent desire towards anything, the people of God ought to sit up a little straighter in their chairs and give attention to it. Jesus was passionate about giving this practice to his disciples. Jesus was looking forward to this meal this Passover meal he had a fervent desire to hand off this ordinance to his disciples to his pupils to his learners his people in verse 19 this phrase is introduced you don't find it in Matthew you don't find it in Mark you find it here in Luke 22 verse 19 Jesus says do this in remembrance of me this is so central to the practice of the Lord's Supper do this in remembrance of me what we have here is two things we have a commandment do this the Lord's Supper is not optional you can argue about how often you ought to do it but we shouldn't be arguing if we should or shouldn't do it Jesus commanded us to do it he said do this and we have a remembrance we have the people of God proactively turning their thoughts to the work of Jesus Christ on behalf of his people.

Now, John six, Matthew, Mark, Luke, all record this Passover dinner right before Jesus giving his life John doesn't record that but we have John 6 so turn to John 6 this is earlier actually in Jesus's ministry this is before that Passover feast So turn in your Bibles to John 6. In John 6, 35 we see Jesus saying, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. So Jesus is beginning to speak to the people about life in himself and how he can satisfy the hunger of those who trust in him. He can satisfy every thirst of those who trust in him.

He actually calls himself the bread of life. Now look at what he says in 53 through 57 John Chapter 6 beginning in verse 53 then Jesus said to them most assuredly I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him Jesus teaches that you have to fully partake of Him. You have to eat His body and drink His blood or you can't have any life in you.

Friends, we meet to worship on the Lord's day because we have been given life in Christ, period. Without life in Christ, we have no reason to be together. We are dead in our sins and transgressions. There's nothing to celebrate. It's the life that He's purchased for us through His work that gives us a reason to gather together as His people to worship Him, to praise him.

And God has given us these symbols to put this before our eyes in our worship. God has given us his body and his blood, the symbols of them, the bread and the cup, so that this thing that has purchased our life would be before our eyes in our worship. God doesn't want very many things before our eyes in our worship. We are a word based religion. It is the Word of God and images are forbidden but he's given us a few symbols never a representation of himself this is a representation of his work In verse 68 these have been hard sayings all of all the disciples many of his disciples have just melted away gone left him and he asks the 12 do you want to leave too and Peter says Lord to whom shall we go you have the words of eternal life This is what we're talking about here.

We're talking about the words of eternal life. We're talking about the symbols of the life that Jesus has given to his people. There's nowhere else for people to go to be saved. He has the words of eternal life and here are the symbols of it his body and his blood now turn your Bibles to 1st Corinthians 10 this is our last stop 1st Corinthians 10 Paul touches on the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 10 and two verses and then he fully develops it. He speaks thoroughly about it in 1 Corinthians 11 so we'll look at both 1st Corinthians 10 verses 16 and 17 now in this you you understand what Paul's doing really quickly here he is taking up this subject with a church that's struggling with a right application of this God has given this as a practice to his people and they're doing it but they're doing it all wrong so Paul this is why Paul is writing about it because they're struggling with applying this in the way that the Lord would have us apply it.

First Corinthians 10 verses 16 and 17. Paul writes, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread in one body, for we all partake of that one bread." Paul starts by talking about the cup of blessing. So communion has two symbols.

It has the bread and then it has the cup. And Paul calls the cup something wonderful. The cup of blessing. And the idea here is that there has been an exchange, wrath for blessing. If you don't think about this frequently in your observance of the Lord's Supper you should think about it frequently.

The trade that has been made. Jesus hands you a cup of blessing but that's not the cup that was His. The Old Testament in multiple places speaks about the cup of the wrath of God and how sinners have to drink it down to the bitter dregs. That is the lot reserved for sinners. A cup of wrath, a cup of the anger of God that must be drunk down to the bitter dregs to the very bottom of the cup and Jesus took that cup this is the cup that he is lamenting in Gethsemane This is the cup that he's agonizing over in Gethsemane.

The sinless Son of God being made sin to purchase the people. He took the cup of God's wrath against sin and he drank it down to the bitter dregs to the bottom of the cup and then He hands you a cup of blessing. This is what we are doing when we observe the Lord's Supper. We're taking the cup of blessing. That's not the cup that he took.

He took the cup that you deserve and he hands you a cup of blessing. Second, we see that we are one bread and one body. Paul uses the word communion. Often that's used interchangeably with the Lord's Supper, Lord's Supper or communion. That's why this text.

It is our partaking together of his body and his blood. The Lord's Supper is designed to have a unifying effect for the people of God. If the people of God would give more attention to the Lord's Supper, I wonder if we would be more unified. I think we would be more unified. I think we would be more humiliated about our own sins.

I think we would be less proud. Think we would have less of all those things that cause divisions and drive wedges between the people of God if we gave more attention to the Lord's Supper. Because Jesus Christ would be more central and it would be harder to hate one another. One bread and one body. The Lord's Supper has been given to us, intended to have a unifying effect on the people of God.

It shows us what we are in Christ. Now look at 11. In 11.1, Paul says, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ and the rest of the chapter follows this form. So Paul is going to keep saying I received these things from Christ, I'm following Christ, you follow me. So he's an apostle.

He's received these things directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Paul, taught him these things. He's saying, I received them from Christ. I'm imitating Christ. You imitate me.

And this is exactly what we find beginning in verse 23 as he arrives at the topic of the Lord's Supper. 1 Corinthians 11, beginning in 23, and I will read through 32. Paul writes, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me in the same manner he also took the cup after supper saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes.

Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself not discerning the Lord's body For this me for this reason many are weak and sick among you and many sleep for if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged but when we are judged we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. In verse 26 Paul says, For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This is something we haven't encountered yet about the Lord's Supper, that there is a sense in which it is a preaching of the gospel. The Lord's Supper is intended to be a proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ, a proclamation of the gospel.

When we take it, we proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. We declare that Jesus has died for sinners and that his death is sufficient to take away the penalty of sin for all who trust in him. Verse 27 introduces the concept of partaking in an unworthy manner. Verse 28 calls for self-examination. It's the remedy for the disease of taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner.

It will help you take it in the right manner to examine yourself before you partake. It is important how we observe the Lord's Supper. Here's what that means. It's not magic. There's nothing magic in that bread.

There's nothing magic in the cup. It must be mixed with faith and obedience faith trusting that the thing that it represents the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ really frees us from sin It is an exercise of our faith. We take it trusting that the work of Christ has done what God has said it would do. And obedience coming in a humble way, coming examining our hearts because we've been bought at a price we're not our own so we need to look at our hearts as we come to the Lord's Supper and see if there are things that don't please our master there and whatever God reveals it's an opportunity to do business with God we are bought at a price we are not our own and then we come to the to partake of the Lord's Supper and we search our hearts we are to search our hearts see what does not please our master and to repent do you see that the lord's supper is a form of church discipline it's the very first step in church discipline you thought out of matthew eighteen it's when your brother comes to you to confront you and send not true the first step is first corinthians eleven examining yourself if we would judge ourselves we wouldn't have to be judged We wouldn't have to be confronted in our sin.

It is self-discipline. Self-examination. Paul says that the stakes are very high that people have gotten sick, that people have died in the church because they would not examine themselves. Here's a question. How much more progress in the faith would we make if we gave proper attention to the Lord's Supper and did what He's commanded us to do and examined our hearts as we approached the symbol of the body and the symbol of the blood of Jesus Christ.

If we came with thankful hearts for all he's done, knowing that we are bought at a price, that we're not our own, to look inside our hearts, to see what has not pleased him, and to do business with God. How much more progress in the faith could we make if we would approach the time of the Lord's Supper that way more? We would go farther faster. Don't you want that? I want that.

I need to go farther faster than you do too. God has given us the Lord's Supper for this purpose. We would examine our hearts and it would help us in being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Oh, let the Lord's Supper help you be conformed into this image. It's better than your image.

You'll be happier when you're more like him let the Lord's Supper help you be more like him God has given it this is one of the reason reasons that God has given the Lord's people this practice for the conforming of this people into a more beautiful image the image of a son okay I'm gonna summarize And I'm very excited because I'm on track time-wise. That almost never happens. Let us rejoice. So I'm just summarizing, there's nothing new. I'm just relating back to how this fits in the worship of God and what God wants to do with this and the life of his people.

Number one, there are five things. Number one, it's not a bolt on. The Lord's Supper is not a bolt on. It is not an awkward afterthought that we stick on the side of the main thing. It's the main thing.

It's the reason we should gather. I'm not diminishing preaching. I'm not diminishing prayer. But I do want to elevate the Lord's Supper to where I believe we see in the New Testament God has it it ought to be on the list like it was in the early church sandwiched right between preaching and prayer the breaking of bread It ought to enjoy a place of honor. We'll be happier for it.

These things are all to our advantage. We lose nothing. We gain so much by not treating the Lord's Supper as a bolt-on as an awkward afterthought. Number two, this is a replacement ordinance. It was a lot harder to worship God in terms of logistics, things that had to be made ready for.

Wasn't it? Doesn't the temple worship make you tired reading it. It's a lot to know a lot to do. And this is a replacement ordinance. God has taken all those many things and narrowed it down to two baptism, the Lord's Supper.

And God has always given his people powerful pictures to help them understand. And now we're down to two. We can still look back at the other pictures. They're beautiful. It's beautiful to go back and look at those pictures those shadows that God has given his people but now we have the substance in Christ so it's not what it used to be it's not as important as it used to be by any stretch of the imagination because we have the fulfillment of all those things in the life and work of Jesus Christ so now God has narrowed those things down and this is just one of a few pictures that he's given them to us they're important pictures that God would sweep away all that and replace it with two tells you that what remains is very very important this replacement ordinance is important and it helps us understand and it helps us remember number three number three the Lord's Supper helps us keep focused on God and what he's done.

The church is always drifting from a preoccupation with God and what he's done. The church ought to be preoccupied with God and what he's done. Lord's Supper helps us. It keeps us preoccupied with just the right thing. Sweeps aside felt needs in the church.

They're all the things we think we need. God knows what we need. God's given us what we need. We need his body, his broken body, and his shed blood. God has given that to us.

We remember it when we partake of the Lord's Supper number four God intends for part of our worship to be a proclamation of the death of Christ for sinners. I'm a preacher. I preach almost every week. Some passages it's easier to get to substitutionary atonement, the core of the gospel. Some weeks it's really easy based on the text in some weeks it's harder you have to worry a lot less about that if you're going to be partaking of communion as you know the gospel is going to be front and center during that time there will be no lack of clarity about the death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection and his power over sin and death if you're taking the Lord's Supper and God has wanted it to be this way Every local church is a mixed multitude.

There are no local churches with only saved people in them. I'm pretty sure. I mean, at least churches with children, small children, they're not born again yet. No one ever was born born again. They're born dead and sinned and trespasses.

Was born born again born dead and sinning trespasses so to have the gospel so central to our life together to our corporate worship is a blessing and it's a proclamation of the gospel number five lastly the lord supper that keeps justification before our eyes being justified being born again being saved being regenerated it keeps justification before our eyes but it also advances our sanctification and we need that because we are commanded by the Apostle Paul to examine ourselves and to do business with God during that time. To welcome God to put his finger in the wound, to put his finger on our sins, and make us more aware of them and bring conviction for them so that we would forsake them and be more like Jesus So the Lord's Supper keeps justification before our eyes but it also advances our sanctification. I pray that in all of our lives the Lord's Supper would be more precious, would be more useful, more useful so that we would be more useful. I believe that's true. I believe if we'll give careful attention to the Lord's Supper, God will make us more useful.

Let's pray. Oh God, make us more useful. Make us more like Jesus. He is what we ought to be and have not been. God, I know as long as I'm breathing I'll never be like Him, fully like Him, but I want to be more like him we love his image we read the Gospels and it makes our hearts burn and yearn for the day we'll be free from sin I pray that you would use the Lord's Supper in the life of your people to keep our minds fixed upon His work.

His atoning work that He would bring sinners to a righteous judge and declare us justified through His blood. I pray that you would help us to use these times to examine our hearts That we might be convicted of our sin. We might be humbled. We might repent. We might be more like Him.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. For more messages, articles, and videos on the subject of Conforming the Church and the Family to the Word of God and for more information about the National Center for Family Integrated Churches where you can search our online network to find family integrated churches in your area, log on to our website ncfic.org. FIC.org