Bread and wine

Two simple ingredients.
One very controversial meal.

Why is it that communion, or the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist, has caused so much division between Christians over the past centuries?

Does it matter what we believe about the bread and the wine?

I've been thinking this through recently and I've come to the conclusion that it DOES matter. In fact, it is a crucial gospel issue.

Before Jesus Christ came, God had given His people the Law. The Law outlined God's requirements, and what the people were to do when they failed to keep those requirements. Through a priesthood and sacrificial system, the people could express their repentance and be accepted in God's sight.

'on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.' (Leviticus 16:30)

The Day of Atonement was an annual occasion which involved several rites and rituals:
-A bull and a ram were offered as a sin offering and a burnt offering respectively for the High Priest's sins
- The High Priest would wear a sacred tunic
- A goat would be sacrificed for the sins of the Israelites
- A different goat would have the sins of the Israelites confessed over it and then sent away into the wilderness (as a scapegoat)

If you read Leviticus 16 you will see there is minute detail given for where blood must be sprinkled over the atonement seat and the altar, and the washing rituals after the sacrifices take place.

When Jesus Christ came, everything changed. The Old Testament shows an awareness that the sacrificial system was not a permanent feature in God's plan. God was really interested in the attitude of the heart that made the sacrifice, which is why the prophets often criticise the people for sinning and then simply making a sacrifice without really repenting:

'"The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.' Isaiah 1:11

Isaiah 53 wonderfully prophesies of a day when the Lord's Servant will come and die for the sins of His people:

'But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all' (Isaiah 53:5-6)

Jesus was the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). In dying on the cross, a completely innocent death, He was the ultimate sacrifice. He took upon Himself the punishment for our sins. And so the gospel message is this:

You either pay for your sins yourself

or

You let Jesus pay for them for you on the cross.

Just before His death, Jesus shared a "Last Supper" with His disciples. In it, He used the bread and wine to visually demonstrate to them what was going to happen to Him and why:

'And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.' (Luke 22:19-20)

After His death, Jesus appeared, resurrected, before two of His followers on the road to Emmaus. They did not recognise Him until He 'took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them' (Luke 24:30). Their eyes were opened and they realised the significance of what Jesus had done. It seems that the early church re-enacted Christ's Last Supper as Acts 2:42 says 'They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.'

The sharing of communion together, then, serves to remind us exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross. Its primary function is so that we remember the gospel: that 'Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God (1 Peter 3:18).

The New Testament letter to the Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus was not instigating another ritual or perpetuating the Jewish temple-priesthood-sacrificial system. That system had ended decisively with His death. The writer vividly contrasts the old system with the new way through Jesus:

'Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

"This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds." Then he adds:
"Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more."

And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water'. (Hebrews 10:11-22)

Jesus' death was enough to pay for all sins past, present and future. No other sacrifice needs to be made. And that sacrifice never needs to be repeated. It is done forever, and Christ is now exalted in heaven, worshipped by all the angels.

This means we can have utter confidence in approaching God, because we don't approach Him through our own merits, but through Christ's perfection. We can have assurance that we are accepted before Him through our assurance that Christ's sacrifice was accepted: this is shown because God raised Him from the dead (Acts 2:24).

So any theology of the Lord's Supper which suggests that it is a sacrifice we make to God, or that it is Christ's sacrifice repeated, goes fundamentally against the gospel. It's not about what we can bring to God; it is about trusting in what He has done for us.

A system of priesthood is also unhelpful, for in the Hebrews passage the role of High Priest is taken by Jesus. In the New Testament, the term 'priesthood' is applied to all believers (1 Peter 2:9)- unlike the Old Testament there is no separate strand of priests from the rest of the people.

Finally, I am not convinced that the celebration of communion in a ritualised setting is helpful either. It seems that Jesus designed the Last Supper to remind people of His death for them whenever they ate or drank- bread and wine were the staple of every meal. In the New Testament, the breaking of bread would have taken place in people's homes, around their table. Their fellowship was such that they ate together and remembered the Lord's death together.

The Lord's Supper is designed so that we are reminded to feed on Christ and receive Him. This is why Jesus said:
"I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." (John 6:53)

It is no use believing in an abstract way that Jesus died for you. You need to actually receive Him and trust in Him, and that's why communion is aimed at believers. It is a vivid reminder that we need to keep on receiving Christ, keep on reading His Word and allow it to change us. We struggle with sin and we need to continually bring our sins to the cross, and leave them there.

There is a solemn warning for us in 1 Corinthians 11:27:
'Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.'

We can't go through the motions of receiving communion if, in our hearts, we are harbouring sin against God, or even worse, we have never really given our lives over to Him. Therefore communion was instigated by Jesus to remind us of our need to commit ourselves to Him, and to renew that commitment every time we eat physical food ie. all the time!

Unashamed- the London Women's Convention

Yesterday I went to the London Women's Convention at ExCel in the Docklands. The theme of the day was 'Unashamed'- how we, as Christians, can overcome our fear of sharing the gospel with others.

Di Warren spoke very engagingly on why we can sometimes feel ashamed of the gospel. Showing the famous X-Factor clip of Susan Boyle, she drew the lesson that looks can be deceiving! The gospel looks powerless to the world. It looks irrelevant- God seems a million miles away. It looks weird- Jesus is not the modern idea of a hero. It's offensive- the gospel tells us we are wrong. It doesn't make people feel good about themselves. And the gospel is intolerant- it says boldly that only Jesus can make us right with God.

However, Di then encouraged us wonderfully that the gospel is dynamite! (This is the Greek word for 'power' used in Romans 1:16 when Paul describes the gospel as the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes). The gospel, simply put, is that Jesus died for you so that God would not be ashamed of you. It's not irrelevant- it shows us God's purpose throughout history- to redeem men and women- and it opens our eyes to the perspective of eternity. It's not weird- Jesus is a shameful hero because He takes OUR shame upon Himself. It's not offensive, it gives a message of hope. It's not intolerant, because there is no discrimination: the gospel is relevant for everyone.

As Christians, we are like the manager of Susan Boyle: we need to create opportunities for the gospel to sing! We mustn't lose our nerve, thinking that our friend is a 'lost cause' or that the message needs to be made more palatable. The problem is not with the message, but with people's hearts.

Di reminded us that the gospel will be rejected. WE will be rejected. This makes evangelism the hardest task in the world. And yet the gospel will be ACCEPTED, too. Not who we choose, not in our timing, but God is at work all around us.

The third session at the conference showed inspiring testimonies from women who had taken the initiative to start up a discussion group with their friends, and seen them come to Christ. Then finally, Rico Tice addressed us with Colossians 4 and told us to devote ourselves to prayer, serve others, and cross the 'pain line'- in other words, get out there and do it! He challenged us to carry around a short passage (eg. Psalm 103) and ask people 'Would you like to look at the Bible with me?'

The conference was very well run with long breaks to chat and look at the bookstore. I was particularly chuffed with buying 'A Taste for Life'- an evangelistic recipe book with gorgeous pictures and very well presented- for a dear friend of mine. They were selling like hotcakes!

If there's one thing that I felt the day missed, it was an emphasis upon community. I don't think the New Testament gives us any warrant for church being a once/twice-a-week meeting, and then we all disperse and live out our lives individually or as families doing our evangelism separately. The picture of the early church is one of community (Acts 4:32). We don't have to live in a commune, but there is a sense of the church being local. Christians who live in the same area, coming together regularly- not just for a formal Sunday service, but in and out of each other's lives. In 1 Thessalonians 2:8 Paul writes:

'We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.'

If we as Christians live as a community, transformed by the Holy Spirit, then our 'evangelism' simply becomes introducing outsiders into that community. It is less about setting up a formal course (which is quite middle-class), and more about integrating the different spheres of our life: work, church, family etc. Evangelism wasn't really meant to be a solo pursuit- Jesus sent out His disciples in pairs in Luke 10, and that was for a special mission. Most of the time Jesus and His followers lived in community, eating together with outsiders (often the outcasts of their society like the tax collectors and prostitutes), and those outsiders were drawn in because they saw Jesus, they heard the gospel, and they saw it lived out in all its power and attraction.

There is nothing more attractive to people today than the idea of a community where they can be accepted whoever they are. Why do you think people are drawn to the local pub? Or the golf club? Or the boules network? Yes, they may enjoy drinking, golfing, etc, but it offers them community. It is unfortunate that church today makes many outsiders think of judgmental people, cold people, unwelcoming people, rather than a warm community infused with the love of Jesus.

So what can we do? Well, there's one simple suggestion that isn't a very popular one:
Move to live in the surrounding area of your church!
So many people 'commute' to church, which is incredibly destructive to the outreach of that church into the local community. If the Christians are not naturally a part of that local community, why should the people pay any attention to leaflets or posters or even those who come door-to-door? Having recently moved into the estate of our local church, my husband and I can testify of the incredible difference it has made to live in the community which, as a church, we are trying to reach. People know us. People trust us. We are able to show that we care for people on a daily basis, and we are able to live out our Christian lives in front of them.

It involves sacrifice. It involves being ready to have an open door and for people to see you when you're not on top form. But it involves the amazing privilege of sharing the gospel with people- through words and actions as well.

I'm not promoting a social gospel- that we should just love people and not bother with speaking the gospel to them- because Romans 10 makes it clear that people aren't saved by simply seeing actions. They need to hear the gospel and understand it! But as James argues, if we do not accompany our gospel-sharing with gospel-living, then our witness is often weakened if not totally ineffective. You could be a very sincere Christian in all aspects of your life, but if Mrs X never sees you in any other context than when you are witnessing to her door-to-door, she has no reason to believe in what you tell her.

I want to recommend Joshua Harris' 'Stop Dating the Church'. In it, he points out that we are so often willing to move house for a new job, or for a new school for our children. Why are we not willing to move for our church, which is so much more important in terms of eternity???