The memorial supper of Our Lord, a plea for organic church life

Front matter

Class Book

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Table Of Contents

I. In What Sense a Communion.

Disciples Commune with Their Lord — The Gospel Commandment — A New Fellowship Established — • Communion in the Memorial — Dangerous Perversions of the Truth — Full of Meaning but without Saving Efficacy — Communion with the Lord — Not Communion with Others — Concerns His Dying on the Cross — With the Promise of His Return.

II. A Memorial Sebvice fob Disciples 25

Chapter I. In What Sense A Communion

Acts 2: 41, 42: "They that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."

1 Cor. 1:9: "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord."

1 John 1:3, 7 : "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. We have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth ua from all sin."

Rev. 3: 20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

I ^^ iHRIST appointed for his churches two ordi- I \^ I nances and commanded their observance, — f^^^Sf Baptism and the Lord's Supper. The one is i'^nrT i I initiatory, to be administered upon a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, and only once to each believer; the other is a memorial, often repeated in the churches to commemorate Christ's atonement for sin through his suffering and death. They are equal commandments of our Lord, — his ordinances to be observed in their order, his injunctions to be obeyed from the heart and fulfilled in the outward life. Throughout these pages we magnify and even glorify this Memorial Supper, and so do honor to him "who loved us and gave himself for us.'* it

The Memorial Supper.

DISCIPLES COMMUNE WITH THEIR LORD.

In the Lord's Supper the disciple communes with his Lord. Communion, however, does not appear to be the primary purpose of the Supper, indeed, not its purpose at all. This comes as a result rather than its original intention. The memorial service answers this high end as one of the provisions of the Gospel. In this way the Lord's Supper is a communion in its observance, the disciples' communion with their Lord. And because of its realistic power and often recurring blessedness, it has won for itself the distinction of being called The Communion, We need not correct this, only let us understand the source of its power and keep in mind its original memorial purpose.

It is of first importance that we always recognize the Memorial Supper as a commandment, with its consequent obligations. These obligations are imperative. The commandment takes rank with other commandments of our Lord, in the keeping of which there is great reward. Herein is blessing and blessedness. Herein also the Gospel message as an evangel transforms its obligation into exalted privilege, and in this memorial service opens a fountain of joy and spiritual refreshment.

THE GOSPEL COMMANDMENT.

The Gospel of Christ was from the first a mighty spiritual dynamo in the world. To this day and among all the nations of the earth wherever preached, it "is the power of God unto salvation to every one that

In What Sense a Communion. ii

believeth." John the Baptist ushered in the new dispensation, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, making and baptizing disciples, many thousands of them. His ministry came to its zenith in the baptism of Jesus, and then immediately began to wane. The starlight was fading, now that the Sun of Righteousness was on the horizon.

Jesus took up the work of John, though upon an advanced and larger scale, and yet with the same message of Gospel appeal and admonition; "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." As a result, he made and baptized more disciples than John — though he himself baptized not, but his disciples. He gave out the startling promise, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations," and then closed his earthly career in the tragedy of the cross. To all human appearances this was the end; his ministry seemed to go out in failure and darkness. "The sun had gone down while it was yet day."

But when he was risen from the dead he reappeared in the might and glory of his resurrection power. And with marvelous boldness and calmness, he gathered up the broken ministry of John and the interrupted ministry of himself, and committed to his disciples the work of making and baptizing other disciples on unto the end, for the fulfillment of his promise to give his Gospel to the world.

"Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." —Matt. 28; 18-20.

A new era had come. The first Evangelistic Campaign under the new commission opened at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. The church had received its marching orders and the King had ascended on high. That new commission had commanded afresh and perpetuated the two ordinances — Baptism by specific mention, and the Lord's Supper by easy, perhaps necessary, implication, and in the order in which they should be held in their relation to each other. Both ordinances reappear, and in this prescribed order, and hold a marked place in that first evangelistic campaign under the great commission. The gospel was preached, disciples were made, their baptism followed, then came fellowship and the breaking of bread.

A NEW FELLOWSHIP ESTABLISHED.

The disciples of Jesus were a new class among men, and as they multiplied were gathered into churches. In their hearts grace had wrought its work, and they were believers in him unto salvation ; and this gave a church membership of those born of God. They were a new creation in Christ Jesus — created unto good works— old things had passed away and all things had become new. They were clothed with power from on high. They wore an invisible, yet real, badge of distinction. They had new relationship and

In What Sense a Communion. 13

were brought into high and royal fellowship — fellowship with God the Father, fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and fellowship also with one another because of their common calling and experience and doctrine and mission and heritage.

This fellowship with the Lord Jesus is at once the basis and pledge of communion with him, whether in the Supper or otherwise. For the communion vouchsafed to the believer in Jesus is general and comprehensive. It is not prescribed or limited to ordinances. It has no limitation in place or occasion. The true worshiper may worship wherever he will, whether in this mountain or at Jerusalem or elsewhere, so he worship in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship him, regardless of time or place.

And yet, the disciple*s communion with his Lord in this memorial worship is something specific, is full of rich blessing and well deserves special emphasis. This exalted privilege, this open door to the presence of the King, has its guarantee in the believer's fellowship with him. "If any man will open the door," were his gracious words of love and condescension on a different occasion, but certainly true in our Lord's Memorial Supper, "I will come in, and sup with him, and he with me."

We come, therefore, to this : Discipleship, Lordship, Communion — these three great words bear the thought for present consideration. The facts for which these words stand are basal in Christian doctrine and experience and life. Discipleship in the believer; Lordship in the Savior; their Communion one with the other. These are high considerations and demand profound and earnest attention.

COMMUNION IN THE MEMORIAL.

As already said, the Lord's Supper is an institution or ordinance which he himself has set in his churches for their observance. It is very simple in its outward act — eating bread and supping wine, by the disciple in the assembly of the saints. It is single in its nature and purpose — a memorial of suffering and death — a visible token of dying love, wherein Jesus our Savior gave himself a ransom for many. It is to be observed in the churches till the end of the age, and must be all the while held to the one single purpose — a memorial which celebrates the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin. The bread and wine are simply emblems and the service a memorial service. This is the basal thought concerning the Lord's Supper. We cannot come back to it too often, nor give its expression too great emphasis. Memorial is its name and nature and purpose; the very heart and life of the ordinance. And we need to discriminate closely and clearly between what is primary and what is incidental in its observance. Here, in this memorial service, while we commemorate Christ's death, we find communion with him. These are to each other somewhat as cause and occasion — as the root and the tree — or as the tree it-

Ix What Sense a Communion. 15

self and the fruit which ripens and mellows among its branches.

DANGEROUS PERVERSIONS OF THE TRUTH.

This ordinance, so simple and beautiful, so full of tender and precious memories to the believer, has been at times greatly perverted. Some times the perversion has been so gross and so full of superstition as to almost destroy the original character and meaning of the Supper.

The discussion concerning the ordinance for centuries was a gigantic war of words and served but little for the cause of truth. It fastened upon the simple memorial many ponderous words and fearful errors, as the following: ''transubstantiation," "consubstantiation," "impanation," "elevation and adoration of the host," ''saying of mass," "extreme unction," "sacramentarian grace," "sacrament," and others, as held by the Romish Church and those who follow more or less in her wake. There was scarcely any relief until Zwingli lifted his voice among the mountains of Switzerland, reforming the Reformers and pleading for the memorial character of the ordinance. When we come out into the open once more we feel much as a man escaped from a wilderness of words. The simplicity of the New Testament language is in striking contrast with all this. There is no changing of bread into flesh, or of wine into blood, no embodiment of body in the elements, no change of any kind in the elements and no communication through them. The bread is still simply bread, and the wine is still simply wine, and are nothing more than themselves, notwithstanding the significance and holy use to which they are put in this wonderful ordinance.

FULL OF MEANING BUT NO SAVING EFFICACY.

The Lord's Supper, like baptism, is not a saving ordinance. It has no mysterious or mystical power of saving people. Indeed, like its companion ordinance, it is intended for people who have already experienced the saving grace of God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. For others it has no meaning or value. But while having no saving efficacy it does have marvelous meaning and significance as a memorial. It bears testimony to an objective fact, viz.: the sufifering and death of the Son of God for our sins, and not to subjective experiences except as awakened and influenced in the human soul by this memorial service.

The Supper does not carry so much in itself as baptism carries ; is not so many-sided as that ordinance in its pictorial representation ; and yet what it does carry it carries with clearness and tremendous power ; it has always had a richness of sentiment in its administration never possessed by the other ordinance. It is the memorial of death, a vicarious death on account of sin, of atonement made for sin through the blood of the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. The bread and wine are in no sense a sacrifice, but in beautiful and powerful fashion symbolize

In What Sense a Communion. 17

the greatest of all sacrifices — the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus.

It is of immense importance that the Lord's Supper be cleared of all the fictitious and factitious notions which have accumulated about it through the centuries, and be held to the one single purpose of a memorial service. This gives the ordinance real meaning, emphasizes its one definite purpose, brings it out into the clear sunlight so as to be seen as it was seen and observed as it was observed on that sad night, when in the upper chamber Jesus said: "Do this in remembrance of me." This view is the background for all else concerning the ordinance, and creates every other value which it possesses, and makes its observance full of rich and blessed experience.

An ordinance, however simple in itself, when crowned and glorified in such holy memorial, could not fail to produce conditions holy and blessed in their influence. These are secondary but none the less real and powerful. The Lord's Supper is a memorial but in its observance becomes the Eucharist — an ordinance which awakens memories and grateful praise for him who laid down his life for our sin. The Lord's Supper is a memorial but in its observance becomes a communion — a blessed service in which the disciple comes face to face with his Lord, and they two stand together in marvelous fellowship, facing the tremendous fact that human redemption came by the cross and the purchase price was paid in the shedding of blood. This is what gives the ordinance power to 2 awaken in us deeper love and to send us out with new and high resolve for nobler life. Here the heart melts down and we come more under the Savior's power.

COMMUNION WITH THE LORD.

It is very essential to have our emphasis right; otherwise we miss the very heart of this impressive and instructive symbol. The Lord's Supper is in very truth a communion, but a communion with Christ, and with him as distinguished from all others; and in a mighty sense, to the exclusion of all others — certainly their exclusion from our thought and devotion. We are face to face with him — and at the cross where he suffered and died — and in contemplation of all the cross stands for. Enraptured by the matchless charm of his presence, we are held by the memory of his suffering and death and redeeming love. Here at the cross, if anywhere in the whole wide, wide world and to the exclusion of all others, our hearts are awakened in song — sorrow and joy strangely commingling, but always in devout praise and worship. Here the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of our understanding — takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us — ^bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God, jointheirs with Christ and sharer in his suffering, and with groanings which cannot be uttered he makes intercession for us and helps our infirmities.

There are no holier or richer sentiments on earth than the sentiments awakened in the Memorial Supper with Christ as their object and center. Here is

In What Sense a Communion. ig

the outflow of the heart in these moments so rich in blessings, so devout in worship:

His blood has redeemed me from sin;

I weep and I sing in my gladness, To know he is dwelling within.

He taught me the secret of faith; To rest in believing his promise And trust whatever he saith.

I lay my whole soul at his feet;

The love he has kindled within me, Makes service and suffering sweet.

If earth in his love is so blest,

What joy in his glorified presence, To sit at his feet as his guest!

What a holy place this is! Surely heaven has come down to us. This service is indeed the Holy Communion. We stand within the sacred precinct, and Christ present with us in his own person. Our fellowship with him, under this hallowed influence, ripens into richer experiences of grace. We commune with him — with him; that is our emphasis. No angel in all the heavenly host can take his place in that holy service. He is our sacrifice, our Savior, our Lord. We crown him in our heart.

NOT communion WITH OTHERS.

Our communion here with him cannot be divided, though it may be in company with others; indeed, in this sense it must be with others, for the memorial celebration is in the assembly of the saints. But it

^ The Memorial Supper.

cannot be diverted from our Lord or divided with others. It is the disciple and his Lord.

Much hurtful talk has been indulged in that grates on this sentiment and mars the beautiful simplicity and singleness of purpose in the Lord's Supper. One speaks of communing here with his mother, communing with his child, or communing with his wife. But that is wholly apart, and far, far below the exalted purpose of this holy ordinance. Such talk results from misdirected sentiment and misplaced emphasis. It does dishonor to our Lord, divides our affection, mars the beauty and glory of the ordinance, discounts if it does not utterly prevent the richer and more blessed experience.

I remember hearing Dr. George W. Truett, of Dallas, Texas, in a beautiful talk on the Lord's Supper, relate an incident which greatly impressed me. A man guilty of treason was arraigned, with his wife and children, before his king to be sentenced for punishment. The man pleaded guilty but besought the king to let the children go free, offering to give half his large estate as a ransom for them. "But," said the king, "what about your wife?" "Let her go, too," said the man, "and I will gladly give the other half of my estate." "No," said the king, "your children may go — your wife may go — you may go, too, and may keep your estate." The man, overcome with feeling, led his little group away. "Wife," said the man, "did you notice the face of the king, and see how troubled and moved he was, and what benevolent compassion

In What Sense a Communion. ^^

shone In his eyes?" "No, indeed, husband," said the wife, "I did not see the king at all; I did not look at his face; I saw no other face than yours, and you were all and in all to me."

Is it not something like that if others intrude on our thoughts, when in communion with our Lord at his own table? Here mother, father, child, — all put aside. Human ties are not taken into account and must not stand between us and Christ. He is present with us, invisible indeed to our physical vision, yet real; intangible and yet present as our all and in all. Make no talk about communing with others, but rather let it be your joy and crown of rejoicing that you commune with him.

concerns his dying on the cross.

Moreover, this communion with Christ concerns in a peculiar manner his suffering and death, his shedding of blood for the remission of sin. This gives distinction and exceptional power to this season of^ communion with him in the Memorial Supper. He himself placed the emphasis here and made it a mark of distinction forever. This is my body broken. This is my blood shed. This is the new covenant in my blood. This do in remembrance of me. This language, so far away by many, many years, is yet fresh and fragrant. These words appeal to our hearts as though he were speaking them now for the first time. They will never lose their power with redeemed souls.

Even a trifle may serve as a memento, and hold in itself strange power over human hearts. The mother, busy in her household cares, comes unexpectedly upon tiny shoes — once covering the little feet which played about the home, or a glove once the covering of baby fingers. They are worn and rusty, soiled and torn, but how they appeal to the heart and open the fountain for a thousand memories ! The child went away these years ago, but now all is fresh and the memory lives over again the former years.

And the stately ships go on

To their haven under the hill; But O, for the touch of a vanish'd hand,

And the sound of a voice that is still.

These articles of wear, otherwise cast off as worthless, hold within themselves as a memento the memory of our dead. How much more these emblems in the Lord's Supper! Nay, we should not compare them. His presence is more than a memory presence. His words are words of living power. This bread and wine — the very emblems of the cross, — and this service — the very symbol of crucifixion, — tell wondrous things of suffering and death, of love also beyond all we can think, and of our redemption through his blood. These emblems of memorial tell the sin of the human heart — tell the consequent need of sin's remission through the shedding of blood — and tell the amazing provisions of grace through the Gospel. This one unbroken song, through the ages, is the song of infinite efficiency and efficacy in the atonement made

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for sin, when Jesus Christ died as the Lamb for sinners slain.

Thou dying Lamb, thy precious blood

Shall never lose its power, Till all the ransomed Church of God,

Be saved to sin no more.

This is the burden of the Lord's Supper. It gives distinction to the service as a communion with Christ concerning his death. Without this it has no meaning; with this it shines in the glory of redeeming grace, as the cloud was made luminous with the divine presence in the Holy of holies.

WITH THE PROMISE OF HIS RETURN.

And, yet, we do not worship a dead Christ. Our communion with him is not with him as dead, but as living. He is as a Lamb that was slain. He died for our sins once, but is now alive for evermore, and is at the right hand of God in the heavens.

God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. . . . The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. . . . How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures ; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. ... He was delivered for our offences and was raised agair for our justification. . . . Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. . . . This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

So that while in this memorial of our Lord we celebrate his dying for our sins, we celebrate also his resurrection from the ' dead — celebrate his enthronement at the right hand of God — celebrate his intercession for the saints in the heavenly places — celebrate his abiding presence with his people on earth and the sure fulfillment of his promise to return again in power and glory. And while the symbol is the symbol of his having died, yet our communion is with the living Christ, the crowned and sceptered King who shall come again. We "do show the Lord's death till he come," and in his coming all symbols and shadows shall vanish as the stars go out before the rising sun.

I will sing of my Redeemer,

And his wondrous love to me.

On the cruel cross he suffered.

From the curse to set me free.

I will tell the wondrous story.

How my lost estate to save.

In his boundless love and mercy.

He the ransom fully gave.

I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues, stood before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands; . . . they that have washed their robes and made them white with the blood of the Lamb. . . . And many angels round about the throne — ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. . . . Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. Amen, and Amen.

Chapter II. A Memorial Service For Disciples

John 4: 1, 2: "Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (though Jesus baptized not, but his disciples)."

Luke 24 : 48, 47 : "Thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.'*

Matt. 28: 19: "Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them."

John 3:3, 6, 7 : "Jesus answered and said unto him. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born from above."

John 1: 12, 13: "To as many as received him, to them gave he the privilege to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Acts 2 : 41, 42 : "They that gladly received his word were baptized. . . . And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."

T'^^^^HE New Testament gives rank and distinction to the Memorial Supper, here called *'the breaking of bread." Its place in the language of Scripture and in the practical working of the Gospel economy is very significant, as seen from the passages cited, and others to be noted later. Mark well the succession of procedure — making disciples, baptizing them, continuing steadfastly in doctrine, and in fellowship as marking a new condition and making a new brotherhood, and in breaking of bread in remembrance of their Lord, as he had done and commanded on that last night in his chosen guest chamber.

Mark, furthermore, what lay back even of these things, antedating them as a prior experience and making them possible — repentance, believing, born from above — ^born of the Holy Spirit of God, and so becoming a son of God — heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ. This is the order of requirement, and of necessary sequence if we are to hold the Lord's Supper in the exalted and exceptional place to which it is assigned in the word of God.

This "breaking of bread," simple as it may seem, God has appointed as a memorial of the sacrificial death of his Son, and the beautiful memorial service must be near to the heart of God. It represents the tragedy of the cross and puts on exhibition forever what it wrought in the economy of grace for human redemption. Its observance awakens the profoundest and most mystical emotions of the human heart — emotions strangely sorrowful and rapturous. This is none other than the house of God. The heavenly breath and beauty seem to be upon it — and the heavenly song. It has the ready recognition of being in deed and in truth ''the holy communion" — the disciple's communion with his Lord. With many, possibly with all, this Memorial service holds, almost if not altogether the crowning place in Christian life,

A Memorial Service for Disciples. 2y

AN ORGANIC PART OF A SYSTEM.

These holy sentiments, born from above and of the heavenly family, must not be allowed to vanish, effervescent like, with nothing to tell of their coming or going. They must not prevent us from discerning the evident strength in the Lord's Supper in its influence on Christian character and life — whether that influence be as the morning dew or as something more stalwart, and even resistive unto death. There is great holding power in the Lord's Supper, for the devout soul who worships there — as the mighty iron cable holds the great ship riding at anchor while the waves are boisterous and the sea is swept by an ocean storm.

We sometim.es forget, at least, in this high tide of exalted sentiment we are in danger of forgetting, that this ordinance is part of a system — as the eye is a part of the human body — and has divinely established organic relation to other parts; that it must not be removed from its place, lest it be marred of its beauty and broken of its power.