Introduction:

1. The New Testament sets forth 5 elements of acceptable worship.
   
2. Can you name them?
   1. Singing Eph. 5:19
      
   2. Praying (1 Tim 2)
      
   3. Preaching the Word of God.
      
   4. Giving (1 Cor. 16:1-2)
      
   5. Communion.
3. This morning we are going to discuss one of these five avenues of worship — Communion.

Discussion:

1. The Lord's Supper is a subject of great importance:
   1. Because of the five elements of worship only communion has been ignored by religious people so frequently.
      1. No Church would ever hold a Lord's Day service and fail to sing, pray preach or take up a collection. But the majority of Protestant churches in America will not be observing the Lords Supper today.
   2. Because of the consequences of taking it improperly (1 Cor. 11:26-30).
      
   3. Because of the statement it makes (1 Cor 11:26).
      
   4. Because when we take it, we take it with the Lord

"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." (Matt. 26:29)

1. This is a reference to the church.
2. We see its importance in the apostolic example (Acts 20:7-7
   1. Paul was in a great hurry to Get to Jerusalem, and yet he remained in Troas seven days. (Acts 20:16).
      
   2. Paul Did not, "JUST HAPPEN" to arrive on the day the congregation in Troas observed the Lord, Supper.
      
   3. Most people are not aware that most scholars freely admit that the early church partook of the Lord's Supper ever first day of the week.
3. COMMUNION (every first day.)

   For centuries, on the first day of the week, Christians around the world have met together to break bread. The Scriptures and leading religious scholars testify to the practice of WEEKLY participation around the Lord's Table. (I Cor. 11:23-30) Consider the following references

   1.Scriptures say, "Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break Bread..." (Acts 20:7)

   2.Mr. Augustus Neander (Lutheran church historian) says, "The celebration of the Lord's Supper was held to constitute an essential part of divine worship EVERY Sunday..." (HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION AND CHURCH, (Vol. 1, p. 332)

   3.Mr. A. C. Hervey (Episcopalian) "This...is an important example of WEEKLY communion as the practice of the first Christians (Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 18, p. 143)

   4.Mr. John Calvin (Reformed) "And truly this (non-scriptural) custom which enjoins communing once a year, is most wicked contrivance of the devil, by whose instrumentality so ever it may have been determined."Again, "It ought to have been far otherwise. EVERY WEEK, at least the table of the Lord should have been spread for the Christian assemblies." (Calvin's Institutes IV, ch. 18, sect. 45; VI, ch. 18, sect. 56).

   5.Mr. John Wesley (founder of the Methodist church) "I also advise the elders to administer the Supper of Our Lord on every Lord's Day." (Selected Letters of J. Wesley, Edited by F. C. Gill, Philosophical Library, 1956).

   6.Mr. Thomas Scott (Presbyterian), "This ordinance (the Lord's Supper) seems to have been constantly administered every Lord's Day; and probably no professed Christian absented themselves..." (Commentary on Acts 20:7, quoted in Seventh Day Adventism Renounced, by D. M. Canright, p. 205)

   7.Roman Catholic Scholars say, "The first day of the week...had replaced the Sabbath (Saturday) as the day of worship...breaking of bread, the Holy Eucharist was celebrated." (New Testament, Confraternity Translation, 1941, p. 372)

   8.Mr. Phillip Doddridge (Congregationalist), "It is well known the primitive Christians administered the Eucharist (The Lord's Supper) every Lord's day." (Notes on Acts 20"7)

   9.Mr. R. A. Torrey (Late president of Moody Bible Institute), "I personally believe that the Lord's Supper ought to be partaken of every Lord's Day, and have said so in the church...and in the Lecture room." (Quoted by S. M. Martin, Thirty Years on the Firing Line, p. 136)

   DIDACHE

   The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (early second century

   105-110 AD) preserves very early instructions on baptism, church organization,

   the Lord's Supper and other Christian interests. Note that it makes peace

   among the brethren prerequisite to communion; it associates the Lord's Supper with sacrifice; it sees the bread as symbolic of the unity of the Church; it permits the Lord's Supper to be served only to those who have been baptized.

   It gives instructions for the cup first, following perhaps one possible under

   standing of Luke's account of the Last Supper. "Maranatha" at the end of the service is the New Testament cry: "Come, Lord Jesus!"

   Didache 14, 9, 10

   On every Lord's Day of the Lord, come together, break bread and observe the Eucharist, after confessing your transgressions that your offering may be pure; but let none who has a quarrel with his fellow join in your meeting until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice be not defiled. For this is and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the one pre- siding who takes care of the orphans and widow, and those who through sickness or any other cause are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers sojourning among us and, in a word, takes

   ______________________________________

   JUSTIN MARTYR

   Justin Martyr (ca. 150) describes a typical Lord's day service

   Apology I, 65-67

   Then there is brought to the one of the brethren who is presiding, bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; when he has taken them, he gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at his hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgiving, all the people present express their assent by saying"Amen."You either know or can learn...And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the Apostles are read, as long as time permits; then when the reader has ceased, the one presiding verbally instructs and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and as we said before, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the one presiding in like manner offers prayers and Thanksgivings according to his ability, and the people assent saying,"Amen."And there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given; and to those who are absent, a portion is sent to the deacons. And they who are well-to-do, care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day of which we hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead on the same day.

4. The terminology.
   1. It is called the Communion

      1 Cor 10:16 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?

   2. The Lord's Supper (1 Cor 11:20ff.)
      
   3. Breaking bread (Acts 2:42; 20:7).
5. It was instituted in the Upper Room the night Jesus was betrayed.
   1. Read 1 Cor 11 and comment.
6. Two Primary things to remember with the Lord's Supper.
   1. It is a memorial to keep us sufficiently motivated (2 Cor. 5:14).
      
   2. We are sharing with him and the body (it should bring us together).

conclusion:

1. R. C. Foster's story of the little girl who kept looking at the little piece of gingham in her pocket. Her mommy had died. The piece of fabric had come from her mother's favorite dress and reminded her of her mommy.
   
2. The Lord's Supper is a memorial.

David E. Parks 12-15-1996 AM Waterford, MI

 
dave@wcofc.org



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