The Ordiance of Covenant Renewal

Introduction

Why should we care about the Lord’s Supper? Isn’t it just a memorial? Isn’t it just an empty ritual? No, brothers and sisters it is not a mere memorial or just an empty ritual.

Consider the words of the eighteenth-century baptist pastor and theologian John Gill, he writes, “the ordinance of the supper is to be frequently administered, and continued throughout the stage of life, it being our spiritual food, for the support and maintenance of our spiritual life.”

Consider the words of the seventeenth-century puritan pastor Thomas Watson, he writes, “The Lord’s supper is the most spiritual and sweet ordinance that ever was instituted: here we have to do more immediately with the person of Christ. In prayer, we draw nigh to God; in the sacrament we become one with him. In prayer we look up to Christ; in the sacrament, by faith, we touch him. In the word preached, we hear Christ’s voice; in the sacrament we feed on him.”

Consider the words of the second generation reformer John Calvin, he writes, “God has received us, once for all, into his family, to hold us not only as servants but as sons. Thereafter, to fulfill the duties of a most excellent Father concerned for his offspring, he undertakes also to nourish us throughout the course of our life. And not content with this alone, he has willed, by giving his pledge, to assure us of this continuing liberality. To this end, therefore, he has, through the hand of his only-begotten Son, given to his church another sacrament, that is, a spiritual banquet, wherein Christ attests himself to be the life-giving bread, upon which our souls feed unto true and blessed immortality [John 6:51].”

But let us not merely take the Lord’s Supper seriously on account of the words of dead men. Instead, let us agree with them because they are reflecting what God’s Word teaches about this ordinance. For the remainder of our time, four scriptural teachings on the Lord’s Supper.

Body

1. Jesus established the Lord’s Supper as a repeated ordinance.

A. The Lord’s Supper typified in the Old Testament.

B. The Lord’s Supper was foreshadowed by Christ.

C. The Lord’s Supper was established at Christ last supper.

D. The Lord’s Supper is a repeated ordinance.

E. The Lord’s Supper is a church ordinance.

2. Jesus blesses the Lord’s Supper as a means of grace.

A. A means of grace defined.

B. The means of grace listed.

C. The Lord’s Supper as a means of grace.

D. The Lord’s Supper recieved as a means of grace.

3. Jesus is proclaimed through the Lord’s Supper continually.

A. The Lord’s Supper proclaims Christ’s work.

B. The Lord’s Supper proclaims Christ’s love.

C. The Lord’s Supper proclaims Christ’s return.

4. Jesus is present at the Lord’s Supper spiritually.

A. Various attempts at understanding Christ’s presence at the Lord’s Supper.

B. The Biblical data stated.

C. The Biblical data synthesized.

D. The Biblical data applied.

Conclusion