Spring Warrior Church of Christ

7432 S. Red Padgett Road

Perry, FL 32348
584-5176

Prove All Things Vol. 1 No. 35

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21

Lord’s Supper by Todd Baker, farmboy@perry.gulfnet.com [10/3/01]

The Lord’s Supper is a feast that Christians around the world participate in. What is it?
Why is it observed? By whom is it observed? When is it observed? These are all
questions that can be answered simply by turning to the Lord’s word.

WHAT is it? The Lord’s Supper, as it is commonly referred to today, is a time for
Christians to remember the great sacrifice Jesus made on the cross in our place for our
sins. The Lord’s Supper is a time when each Christian should meditate on why it is we
need Christ in the first place, namely “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God” (Romans 3:23). During the Lord’s Supper, we partake of unleavened bread which
is to remind us of Jesus’ body which was pierced and hung on the cross, and we partake
of the fruit of the vine which is to remind us of Jesus’ blood that was shed on the cross,
“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in
the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He
broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way He took the cup also after supper saying, “This cup is the new
covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” (I
Corinthians 11:23- 25).

WHY is it observed? The Lord’s Supper is observed to serve as a memorial to help each
Christian remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us. The Lord recognizes that we are
forgetful and easily sidetracked in life. This memorial is a time of both sadness and joy;
there is sadness because the only sinless man to ever exist, the Son of God, died an
extremely cruel death of crucifixion for people who do not appreciate or understand His
sacrifice, and there is sadness from each who partakes because we know that it is
because of our own sin that Jesus was crucified. “He was despised and forsaken of
men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, And like one from whom men hide
their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our grief’s He Himself
bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of
God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:3,4). Yet, at the same time, it is a time of great joy in that
He was the perfect sacrifice having had no sin. He was crucified in our place for our sins

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and that through that sacrifice Christians have the hope of eternal life in Heaven with
the Lord. “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His
knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their
iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the
booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered
with the transgressors; Yet He himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the
transgressors” (Isaiah 53:11,12).

By WHO is it observed? It is observed by Christians to remember the great sacrifice

Jesus made on our behalf. We have a great responsibility to observe it properly,
“whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall
be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must first examine himself,
and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and
drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly” (I
Corinthians 11:26-29).

WHEN is it observed? Christians gather on the first day of the week, just as the First
Century Christians did, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together
to break bread…” (Acts 20:7). It is also observed on the first day of the week to
commemorate the day Jesus rose from the grave, “But on the first day of the week, at
early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And
they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not
find the body of the Lord Jesus…. He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He
spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke
24:1-7). From Scripture, we cannot find any example of partaking of the Lord’s Supper
only once or twice a year, we only have the example of a weekly observance in order to
remember Jesus’ great sacrifice on the cross in our place and to celebrate His victory
over death, thus giving Christians around the world tremendous hope for eternal life in
Heaven with the Lord beyond the grave. What a victory!

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