The Lord’s Supper

On February 4, 2013 By BrianIn Church Life

Our church looked at the significance of the Lord’s Supper yesterday from I Corinthians 11:23-26. As we think about what the Lord’s Supper is all about, at least four things come out of the passage.

It is a meal of remembrance. We are to eat and drink in remembrance of Jesus. Specifically we remember his suffering and death for us. And we remember his great love that led him to make this sacrifice on our behalf. And so our time around the table is a somber, reverent time of remembrance. We dare not partake in a flippant, careless manner.
It is a meal of affirmation. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (v25). The Lord’s Supper is then a covenant meal. In participating we affirm our place in the new covenant. We affirm our relationship with God thru Jesus. We affirm that our sins are forgiven through Jesus. We affirm our new life in the Spirit. We affirm our faith in Jesus. And so only believers should partake of the Lord’s Supper, for only believers can affirm these things.
It is a meal of proclamation. In eating and drinking we “proclaim the Lord’s death” (v26). It is a visible tangible proclamation of his death and hence the gospel. We proclaim the gospel to each other as we partake. And we proclaim the gospel to any unbelievers who may be present as they see the central importance of Christ’s death.
It is a meal of anticipation. We “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (v26). As we remember his death we recognize that he did not remain dead, but rose, ascended, and is one day returning. We look forward to the day when we will partake of a new meal – the wedding feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19). We look forward to the day when we will be with the Lord forever, and there will be no more suffering or pain or death or sin.

Acts Articles – Church 02C

On July 18, 2012 By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life, Habit of Prayer

In Acts 2:42, the early church devoted themselves to prayer. The context is the church. They were devoted to praying together. What about us? Are we devoted to meeting together for prayer? Do we love God and his people so much that we want to gather together before the throne? What is our attitude? Are we devoted? How might we grow in our devotion to praying together?

Acts Articles – Church 02B

On July 17, 2012July 17, 2012 By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life

In Acts 2:42, the early church devoted themselves to the breaking of bread. There is some debate as to whether this refers to simply eating meals together (part of their devotion to fellowship) or to the Lord’s Supper. As the Lord’s Supper was often connected to eating together (see I Corinthians 11), the answer might be both. As we already addressed their devotion to fellowship, let’s consider briefly their devotion to the Lord’s Supper.

As Jesus commanded, they were devoted to coming together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. They came together to remember Christ’s death for them. We too need this devotion. We too need to regularly remember what Christ has done for us. Indeed Christ’s sacrifice for us is a large part of our motivation for the other three devotions, and all of our devotion.

He died for me. In amazement and gratitude, I’ll live for him.

Acts Articles – Church 02A

On July 12, 2012 By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life

In Acts 2:42, the church devoted themselves to the fellowship. Fellowship has the idea of sharing – both sharing with and sharing together.

Verses 44-45 describe the sharing with. They were generous. They shared what they had with each other, and especially with those in need. They weren’t clinging to their stuff, but were willing to share, to even sell what they had to give to those in need. We need this generosity today – not only for the good of each other, but to break free of the materialism that grips our land. Generosity opens our clutching hands; it teaches us to give instead of hoard. We too need to be devoted to the fellowship – generously sharing with others.

Verse 46 describes their sharing together. They came together publicly (in the temple) and privately (in their homes). They gathered together regularly. They spent time together. They shared their lives together. Part of this sharing together was eating together. We like to joke about fellowship being tied to food, but fellowship is often tied to food in the Bible. Jesus is always eating with people. And here, the early church is eating together. Eating together implies friendship, a relationship. Refusing to eat with someone shows division. So we eat together in part to show our unity with one another. We need to make time in our busy lives to eat together, to do things together, to do life together. We too need to be devoted to the fellowship – sharing our lives together.

Verses 46-47 go on to tell us that they ate together with glad and generous hearts, praising God. Fellowship was a joyful thing for them. They delighted in one another. They enjoyed coming together. They praised the Lord for each other. Is that your attitude? Are your sharing together? Are you sharing with? Are you devoted? How might you need to grow in your devotion?

Acts Articles – Church 02

On July 3, 2012 By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life, Habit of Scripture

In Acts 2:42, we find the early church devoted to coming together for the apostles’ teaching. The apostles of course were teaching about Jesus from our Old Testament and eventually wrote the New Testament about Jesus, so we devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching when we devote ourselves to God’s Word, and especially to the teaching about Jesus from the Bible.

Like the early church, we should be devoted to coming together to study God’s Word, so we can learn and know more, and ultimately grow. We should gather to listen attentively and respond appropriately. We should have a real commitment and a real hunger. Our attitude should be that we can’t wait to meet together with God’s people to study the Word.

Is that your attitude? Are you devoted? How might you grow in your devotion to gathering together with God’s people to study His Word?

Acts Articles – Prayer 01C

On June 21, 2012 By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life, Habit of Prayer1 Comment

Yesterday we saw from Acts 1:15-26, that the 120 disciples sought direction from Jesus in prayer. Our churches need to pray together for direction from Jesus too. Three specific applications from the passage:

We need to pray together for direction in our witness. The 12 apostles had a special role in being witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus, and so Judas’ replacement was important for their witness. We too need to seek direction from Jesus as we seek to be witnesses in our communities, and beyond to the ends of the earth.

We need to pray for direction in our meetings. As the disciples met together, they prayed. It is entirely too easy for us to begin a church meeting with a quick perfunctory prayer and then rush into the business at hand. But prayer is the most important business at hand as we seek to discern what Jesus wants us to do. Every meeting should begin as a prayer meeting. And when we come to an issue that we are unsure of or divided on, the meeting should return to a prayer meeting. Because it is not what any of us want or think that is important. It only matters what Jesus wants and thinks. Our churches are not supposed to be country clubs with God tacked on. They are churches of the Living God – and we must pray for his direction.

Finally, we need to pray for direction in leadership. As an apostle, the man the 120 disciples chose would be a leader in the church. And so they prayed to the Lord who knew the two men’s hearts for direction on which man should take this place of leadership. The Word gives us certain requirements for leadership to guide us. But we can’t see the hearts of men. So we need to pray to the One who can see men’s hearts to guide us to whom he wants to serve as leaders in our churches.

May our churches grow in their commitment to praying together for Jesus’ direction in our witness, meetings, and leadership.

How To Encourage Your Pastor

On June 20, 2012 By BrianIn Church Life

R.C. Sproul, Jr. recently shared three simple ways to encourage your pastor. As a pastor myself, I know how easy it is to become discouraged, and I thought his suggestions were right on:

First, pay attention to his labors. Though we do not have a duty to be at the church every time the doors are open, one thing that discourages pastors is our unwillingness to simply avail ourselves of his gifts. When the pastor labors in his study to prepare a Bible study lesson, or writes a blog post, and the sheep under his care pay no attention, it is discouraging….

Second, speak well of him to others. …if word comes back to him, and it will, that you have spoken well of him, to others in the church, or even to those in your community, he will have to take your good word to heart….

Third, pursue godliness. Because he loves you, what your pastor wants more than anything else is for you to grow in grace and wisdom, to become more like Jesus….

I encourage you to read the whole post here.

Acts Articles – Prayer 01B

On June 20, 2012 By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life, Habit of Prayer

Jesus ascended into heaven where he still acts and still speaks through his followers, through his church. But how do we know what he wants us to do? How do we know what he wants us to say? In the last post we said that part of the answer was the Word. Another part of the answer is through prayer.

In Acts 1:15-26, the disciples are guided by the Word to replace Judas. They find two men that fit the necessary requirements for an apostle – they had to be with Jesus during his ministry, and especially be eye-witnesses to his resurrection. Having determined the possibilities, the disciples then pray for direction.

They pray to the Lord. In the context of Acts, Jesus is often referred to as Lord. And so it is possible that we should understand the disciples as praying to Jesus. As the Head of the church, it would make sense for them to seek his direction. As the one who chose the original twelve disciples, it would make sense for them to speak to him about his chosen replacement of Judas.

And so we ought to seek direction from Jesus in prayer. Our churches need to pray together seeking his direction in how he wants us to apply his Word in our specific situations. We will look at three specific applications tomorrow.

Acts Article – Word 01

On June 19, 2012 By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life, Habit of Scripture

In Acts 1:15-26, Peter recognizes that Judas abandoned his role as an apostle, as was predicted in Psalm 69:25. He then finds guidance in the Word. Psalm 109:8 instructs them to replace Judas.

The main point I want to make is that they found guidance in the Word. The Word told them what Jesus wanted them to do. And so the Word tells us what Jesus wants us to do.

As we gather together as local churches to study the Word together, Jesus is speaking to us, telling us what he wants us to do and say. As we hear the Word taught and preached, Jesus is giving us our marching orders. And as we faithfully respond to what his Word tells us, Jesus is acting and speaking through us.

As we gather together around the Word, let us then be careful to listen attentively and respond appropriately so that we might be the hands and tongue of Jesus.

Acts Articles – Prayer 01A

On June 8, 2012 By BrianIn Book of Acts, Church Life, Habit of Prayer

Yesterday I suggested two applications from the example of 120 disciples who devoted themselves to praying in one accord for the Spirit to empower them as witnesses. But are we supposed to follow their example? Is this recorded for us to imitate or is it recorded simply to tell us what happened?

Alan Thompson in his book, The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus, suggests one helpful way forward. He suggests that something mentioned once is probably to be taken as merely descriptive. But if Luke mentions something repeatedly, that it is probably to be taken as prescriptive; that is, it is a pattern in the early church that should be a pattern for the church today (see p25-27).

So then, the 120 disciples were devoted to praying together for 10 days. Do we need to devote ourselves to praying together for 10 days? Probably not since this is the only occasion that we read of a 10 day period. And indeed this ten day period between the Ascension and Pentecost (these two great works in salvation history) is unrepeatable. That is not to say, we couldn’t commit to pray together for 10 days – it may be a great thing to do. But it is not prescribed for us to do it.

But what about devoting ourselves to praying together apart from the 10 day length? Is devoting ourselves to praying together merely descriptive, or should we take it as prescriptive. Three patterns suggest that we should take this as prescriptive.

First, there is a pattern throughout Acts of Christians devoting themselves to prayer together. It is clearly a regular practice for them. Why would we think it shouldn’t be a regular practice for us? And remember that Acts does not give us an exhaustive view of the early church. Luke merely hits some of the highlights, and apparently Luke thought praying together was important enough to highlight, probably at least in part because he thought we should imitate their devotion to praying together.

Second, if you compare the gospels, the Gospel of Luke has the greatest emphasis on prayer. Luke clearly wanted his readers to be instructed in prayer, and so it is reasonable that he would continue that instruction into his second volume – the Book of Acts. Luke is instructing us in how we are to pray by recording for us the practice and teaching of Jesus and the practice of the early church.

Third, there is a perceptible pattern in Acts of the people praying together, the Spirit powerfully working, and the word going forth. We see it in Acts 1-2 as the 120 pray, the Spirit comes in power, and the word is preached with 3000 people getting saved. We see it again in Acts 4, as the church prays, the Spirit comes in power, and the people boldly proclaim the gospel. In Acts 13, the church is praying, the Spirit calls Paul and Barnabas, and thousands will be saved through his missionary work.

Perhaps we see few people saved today in many of our churches, because we aren’t devoting ourselves to praying together for the Spirit to powerfully work. Not that we can force the Spirit’s hand, as if he has to act if we pray. But if we don’t care enough to ask, why would we expect him to act? If we try to do the ministry on our own without prayer, why would we expect God to bless our ministries?

These three patterns in Luke-Acts makes clear that devoting ourselves to praying together is prescriptive for us. We are to follow the early church’s example. What are we waiting for?