On Pentecost Sunday for 2019, I shared in my sermon about Martin Luther’s “Seven Marks of the Church” (a.k.a. “Seven Principle Signs of the Church” or “Seven Pillars of the Church”)…
- 1) Proclamation of the Gospel – (the good news of Jesus Christ)
- 2) Holy Baptism – (in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
- 3) Holy Communion – (the Lord’s Supper)
- 4) Absolution of Sins – (declaring forgiveness with Christ’s authority)
- 5) Ordination of Leadership – (deacons, pastors, bishops)
- 6) Praise of God – (public worship through word, prayer and song)
- 7) The Way of the Cross – (charitable service and sacrificial love)
For this article, I will focus on the Third Mark of the Church (Holy Communion).
In ancient times, when a relationship had been broken, the offering of a meal was given in order to bring about reconciliation and restored fellowship. In fact, this was the whole basis for the sacrifices and sin-offerings of the ancient Hebrew Tabernacle and the ancient Hebrew Temple. These sacrifices were simply offerings of food (in a spirit of confession, repentance and forgiveness) in order to restore full fellowship with God.
Quite literally, the ancient offerings of food (especially some kind of meat) were offered to restore full Table Fellowship with God, bringing reconciliation and “atonement” (at-one-ment) in relationship to God. However, the problem was that there was no perfect offering that mere human beings could have given in order to permanently and everlastingly (once and for all time) restore full fellowship with a perfect, holy and pure Almighty God.
Then two thousand years ago, a perfect offering (that God himself provided to us) was given on behalf of all us imperfect sinful human beings — a supreme offering to perfectly restore our full table fellowship with God and with one another. And as you already know of course, this perfect offering was and is the very life (body, blood, soul and divinity) of our Lord Jesus Christ, freely given and poured out for you and me and all people. Being fully God and fully human at the same time, Jesus was the perfect offering for the sins of the world. He’s the perfect “Lamb of God” (John 1:29) offered as the once-and-for-all-time sacred meal of reconciliation, atonement and renewal.
Being fully God, Jesus’ offering to restore us to fellowship with God was the most perfect of offerings. And being fully human, Jesus’ offering to restore us to communion with God was truly a real sacrifice on his part. Consequently, on the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus connected the bread and wine of his Holy Supper to the offering of his life for us. So Jesus tells us that, as we partake of this bread and wine in remembrance of him, we are literally sharing in a meal of reconciliation and holy table fellowship with God according to his sacrificial offering of his body and blood for this purpose.
Therefore, although the Lord is omnipresent (everywhere present), we believe that Christ our Lord is uniquely and especially present with us and for us in the Blessed Sacrament of Holy Communion to continually restore us to fellowship with God and strengthen us in faith, hope and love. In other words, we come to this sacramental meal (over and over again) to keep us in an abiding relationship with God, and to empower us to love one another and all people just as our Lord Jesus loves us.
When we receive the body and blood of Christ in the form of the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, we receive the grace and power of the Holy Spirit of God, which makes this sacred meal our weekly Pentecost. But Holy Communion is not only for our own spiritual wellbeing. In fact, the purpose of Holy Communion also has to do with the great Love Commandment of our Lord Jesus.
This is why the Apostle Paul got so upset at the Corinthian Christians who were sharing in the Lord’s Supper while simultaneously setting up distinctions and discriminations between one another. Basically, the wealthy congregants were being shown special favor within the Corinthian congregation, while the poor congregants were being marginalized. This outraged Paul, so he writes that we must not receive the bread and wine of Holy Communion while practicing discrimination and partiality within the Body of Christ (the Church). “For those who eat and drink without discerning the Body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves” (First Corinthians 11:29).
Through the Apostle Paul’s very strong words in First Corinthians 11, we can see the intimate connection between the Lord’s Supper and Jesus’ command to love one another and all people as he loves us. Therefore, the good gifts of God’s Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of the Altar (the Lord’s Supper) are for an inclusive purpose according to God’s all-encompassing love. In other words, Holy Communion is focused outwards as well as inwards.
From Holy Communion we are sent by the power of the Holy Spirit to bear the grace and love of God to all the world around us! Empowered by Christ’s sacramental offering and presence at the altar, we are to go out from this meal to serve and love (according to his Way of the Cross) for the sake of the world.
Together in Christ, Pastor Tim