About the Lord’s Supper

It's about Jesus’ coming into our world, His sacrificial life and death, and His resurrection all speak of the depth of God’s love for us. At the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus established an observance to help His disciples remember His love. Frequently called, The Lord’s Supper.

Introduction

In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus provided a means for us to remember His love and the great sacrifice that love required of Him. When we participate in the Lord’s supper, it is our way of saying, "Never forget!" As we regularly remember what Jesus did for us, we are motivated to love Him. Our commitment is renewed and our zeal for worship revived.

Jesus asked us to participate in this event and to use it for remembering Him until He returns. It is so important that most Christian churches, including our own, consider the Lord’s Supper to be of sacramental importance. As such it is fundamental to our faith and practice as believers. Because that is true we should teach it to our children and new Christians.

Teaching about the Lord’s Supper includes: (1) history, (2) significance, and (3) practice.

Teaching

 Exodus 11, 12, and Matthew 26:17-30 for the biblical history of the Passover and the Lord’s Supper.

1. History. Though Joseph, a Jewish man, was once the prime minister of Egypt, the Israelites had become slaves in that country during the years following his death. It was a terrible period in Jewish history, and very different from what God had planned for His covenant people.

Finally, God selected a man named Moses to lead His children out of slavery. In a spectacular moment of confrontation, Moses faced Pharaoh and demanded the release of God’s people. Imagine the courage Moses displayed when, without any armies or allies, he demanded freedom. It would have made terrific news, but this was not a mere political drama about people seeking independence. This was about God and His people.

Pharaoh refused to budge, so in a great demonstration of His power, God broke the ruler’s will. Following a series of devastating plagues and maladies that did not seem to move Pharaoh, God allowed a deadly judgment to overtake the land. The Angel of Death passed over Egypt, and the firstborn of all living things died, except among the Israelite families. God protected them in a unique way. He instructed His people to make sacrifice with a pure animal, whose blood they would smear on the doorposts of their homes. God said to them, "The blood will be a sign for you on the house where you are; and when I see the blood I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13, NIV). God delivered His people and led them out of slavery to their promised land.

The memory of what happened on that Passover night in Egypt has never been forgotten, nor its significance diminished. Jews remember and celebrate the Passover today, thousands of years after the event. It is a memorial to the fact that God saves His people and delivers them from the bondage of slavery.

The Passover was the harbinger of the most important act I history: the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus took the Passover meal, redefined the meaning of the events, and instructed His followers to observe the mean regularly as a means of remembering His sacrificial love for them. The Jewish Passover became the Christian Lord’s Supper. By participating in it, we never forget what Jesus Christ has done for us.

2. Significance. Though the Lord’s Supper is rooted in the Jewish Passover, we do not celebrate it in the same way as Passover. Jesus gave it new significance for His followers. The meaning of the Lord’s Supper is similar to the Passover, but much greater.

The Passover remembers God’s deliverance of a nation of people. The Lord’s Supper remembers God’s spiritual deliverance of all people who come to Christ wishing to be free from sin’s slavery. Just as the Passover saved people from physical death, the Lord’s supper reminds us we are saved from spiritual death by Jesus’ death on the Cross. He was the Passover lamb, and the blood of His sacrifice is applied spiritually to our lives in salvation. (Revelation 13:8, which says Jesus was "the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world). Like the Children of Israel who believed the blood on their doorposts would save them, when we trust in Jesus Christ we are saved from the judgment of eternal death.

The Passover bread symbolizes Jesus’ wounded, broken body, sacrificed on our behalf. The juice we drink symbolizes His blood—His very life—given so we could be saved. (1 Corinthians 11:24, 25.)

3 Practice. We should regularly and faithfully participate in the Lord’s Supper. ( Exodus 12:25-27.) Like Moses commanded the Israelites to remember, Jesus asked His followers to do the same. He said, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19, NIV).

We must never forget! When our children ask us what this event means, we must both explain it and teach them to practice it properly. As early as possible in their lives we should teach our students to participate in the Lord’s Supper. Some people object to allowing children to take the Lord’s Supper. They attach a very mystical meaning to the event and assume children cannot understand. This is a more liturgical view than most evangelical Christians are willing to take. We believe the Lord’s Supper is a symbolic reminder.

When our children can begin to understand that God’s love is expressed in Jesus’ death, they are ready to receive the Lord’s Supper. It is vitally important to help them understand the importance of participating regularly. With each occasion, their understanding will increase—just as it does for adults.

In summary, to understand and partake of the Lord’s Supper will do several important things. It will: (1) help ground us in the faith, (2) help us not take salvation for granted as we remember the seriousness of the sacrifice made, (3) remind us how much God loves us, and (4) motivate us for worship and service.