The last few sentences of this recording are
missing, but unfortunately it came to us second
hand and we are therefore unable to do
anything about it.
I would choose to speak on something that
is central to our Christian faith and fundamental
thereto.
Something that stands very near to the affections
which every Christian bears towards our Lord Jesus
Christ.
I have chosen therefore to think with you
about the institution of our Lord's supper.
I propose to read four passages relevant to
this topic, two from the Gospels and two
from the Epistles.
Our first reading is found in Matthew's Gospel
chapter 26, Matthew's Gospel chapter 26 verse 1.
I happen to be reading from the revised
version.
It came to pass, when Jesus had finished
all these words, he said unto his disciples,
ye know that after two days the Passover
cometh, and the Son of Man is delivered
up to be crucified.
Then were gathered together the chief priests and
the elders of the people unto the court
of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas.
They took counsel together that they might take
Jesus by subtlety and kill him.
But they said not during the feast, lest
a tumult arise among the people.
Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the
house of Simon the leper, there came unto
him a woman having an alabaster cruise of
exceeding precious ointment and poured it upon his
head as he sat at meat.
When the disciples saw it they had indignation
saying, to what purpose is this waste?
For this ointment might have been sold for
much and given to the poor.
But Jesus perceiving it said unto them, why
trouble ye the woman?
For she hath wrought a good work upon
me.
For ye have the poor always with you,
but me ye have not always.
For in that she poured this ointment upon
my body, she did it to prepare me
for burial.
Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel
shall be preached in the whole world, that
also which this woman hath done shall be
spoken of for a memorial of her.
Then one of the twelve who was called
Judas went unto the chief priests and said,
what are you willing to give me?
And I will deliver him unto you.
They weighed unto him thirty pieces of silver.
From that time he sought opportunity to deliver
him unto them.
Now on the first day of unleavened bread
the disciples came to Jesus saying, where wilt
thou that we make ready for thee to
eat the Passover?
And he said, go into the city to
such a man and say unto him, the
master saith, my time is at hand, I
keep the Passover at thy house with my
disciple.
And the disciples did as Jesus appointed them.
And they made ready the Passover.
Now when even was come he was sitting
at meat with the twelve disciples and as
they were eating he said, verily I say
unto you that one of you shall betray
me.
And they were exceeding sorrowful and began to
say unto him every one, is it I
Lord?
But he answered and said, he that dipped
his hand with me in the dish, the
same shall betray me.
The Son of Man goeth even as it
is written of him, but woe unto that
man through whom the Son of Man is
betrayed.
Good were it for that man if he
had not been born.
Judas which betrayed him answered and said, is
it I Rabbi?
He saith unto him, thou hast sinned.
And as they were eating Jesus took bread
and blessed and break it and he gave
it to the disciples and said, take eat,
this is my body.
And he took a cup and gave thanks
and gave to them saying, drink ye all
of it.
This is my blood of the covenant which
is shed for many unto remission of sin.
But I say unto you I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine
until the day when I drink it new
with you in my father's kingdom.
So stands Matthew's account of the institution of
the Lord's Son.
And the three other, two other accounts in
the gospels naturally follow Matthew very closely.
In turning now to Luke's account I merely
wish to pick out certain salient points that
Luke has which Matthew has not.
The account of course is found in chapter
22.
Verse 24 of Matthew 22.
There arose also a contention among them, which
of them is accounted to be greatest?
And he said unto them, the kings of
the Gentiles have lordship over them and they
that have authority over them are called benefactors.
But ye shall not be so.
But he that is the greater among you,
let him become as the younger.
And he that is chief as he that
does serve.
For where there is greater, he that sitteth
at meat or he that serve, is not
he that sitteth at meat.
But I am in the midst of you
as he that serve.
But ye are they which have continued with
me in my temptations.
And I point unto your kingdom even as
my father appointed unto me that ye may
eat and drink at my table in my
kingdom.
And ye shall sit on thrones judging the
twelve tribes of Israel.
Simon, Simon, behold Satan asked to have you
that he might sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for thee that thy
faith fail not.
And do thou, when once thou hast turned
again, establish thy brethren.
And he said unto him, Lord, with thee
I am ready to go both to prison
and to death.
And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the
cock shall not crow this day until thou
shall deny thrice that thou know'st me.
And he said unto them, when I sent
you forth without purse and wallet and shoes,
lacked ye anything?
And they said, nothing.
And he said unto them, but now he
that hath a purse, let him take it.
And likewise a wallet.
And he that hath none, let him sell
his cloak and buy a sword.
For I say unto you that this which
is written must be fulfilled in me.
And he was reckoned with the transgressors.
For that which concerneth me hath fulfillment.
And they said, Lord, behold, here are two
swords.
And he said unto them, it is enough.
Now let us leave the Gospels for a
moment and turn to the first epistle to
the Corinthians.
First of all in chapter 10.
First epistle to the Corinthians in chapter 10,
verse 16.
The cup of blessing which we bless, is
it not a communion of the blood of
Christ?
The bread which we break, is it not
a communion of the body of Christ?
Seeing that we who are many are one
bread, one body.
For we all partake of the one bread.
Behold Israel after the flesh, have not they
which eat the sacrifices, communion with the altar?
What say I then, that a thing sacrificed
to idols is anything?
Or that an idol is anything?
But I say that the things which the
Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not
to God.
And I would not that ye should have
communion with devils.
He cannot drink the cup of the Lord
and the cup of devils.
He cannot partake of the table of the
Lord and of the table of devils.
Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?
Or are we stronger than he?
Finally from chapter 11 of this same epistle,
verse 23.
For I received of the Lord that which
also I delivered unto you, how that the
Lord Jesus, in the night in which he
was betrayed, took bread.
And when he had given thanks, he breaketh
and said, this is my body, which is
for you.
This do in remembrance of me.
In like manner also the cup, after supper,
saying, this cup is the new covenant in
my blood, this do as after ye drink
it, in remembrance of me.
For as often as ye eat this bread
and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's
death till he come.
Wherefore, whosoever shall eat the bread or drink
the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be
guilty of the body and the blood of
the Lord.
But let a man prove himself, and so
let him eat of the bread and drink
of the cup.
For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and
drinketh judgment unto himself, if he deserve not
the body.
For this cause many among you are weak
and sickly, and not a few sleep.
But if we discerned ourselves, we should not
be judged.
But when we are judged, we are chastened
of the Lord, that we may not be
condemned with the world.
Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to
eat, wait one for another.
If any man is hungry, let him eat
at home.
But your coming together, be not unto judgment.
The Lord himself draw near, and expound to
us his holy word.
Our Lord left us only two ordinances, which
therefore become remarkable by their very fewness of
number, and concentrate our attention on their singular
importance.
He left us the ordinance of baptism, the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper.
And so tonight, as we survey together the
familiar theme of the Lord's Supper, inevitably, we
shall constantly think of its importance.
For this is a something that our Lord
asked us to do.
A something very rare that our Lord asked
us to do.
Rare in the sense that it is one
of only two ordinances.
But in addition to perceiving its importance, we
shall I trust be helped of God to
see the wisdom which lies behind our Lord's
injunction.
It is a lovely thing for every believer
when he is given to see the wisdom
of God behind God's gracious commands.
It goes without saying, of course, that we
owe to our Lord, unquestioning obedience to every
one of his commands, even if we cannot
perceive the wisdom behind them.
Suppose we cannot see the reason why.
Ours is not to question.
Ours to do.
Trusting the heart of him who loves us.
Trusting the mind of an all wise Saviour
and God.
But how lovely when God treats us not
as infants, merely to be commanded without understanding
why, but rather as grown up sons to
whom he may entrust his secrets and explain
his ways that we might perceive their wisdom
and with all the more wholeheartedness cooperate with
him in the carrying out of his instructions.
Let us then by God's grace see tonight
the importance of this ordinance and also its
exceeding wisdom.
I want then first to say a few
words on our Lord's supper from the historical
viewpoint, to see what we may learn from
its very institution.
For I shall submit to you that it
shows us, what is and whatever must be,
the prime and central Christian emphasis.
But let us reflect a moment that when
our Lord instituted this thing, he was instituting
a something by which we should remember him.
How many things there were about him that
we love and which he might have chosen
by which he should remember him.
There were all those wonderful miracles that he
did, full of grace and kindness every one
of them.
But we do notice that it is not
his miracle that here he bids us recall
by this constantly repeated rite.
And again we think how lovely were his
teachings, how glorious those parables he taught, how
striking and how gripping his moral teachings.
And yet we cannot fail to notice that
when he wanted something to be done to
recall him, he didn't order us to stand
publicly and recite his parables, that we might
remember what he said in those parables, or
to recite publicly the sermon on the mount
that we might remember his ethical teaching.
He chose to select this from all his
life and ministry.
He chose to select something that should recall
the offering of himself as a sacrifice for
our sins, bread and wine.
His body given and his wine, his blood
given for us, expressly said, given for us
for the forgiveness of sin.
We cannot of course think that this is
some casual thing that our Lord did without
forethought or deliberate intention.
It must be that in asking us to
do this which recalls his sacrifice and death,
that our Lord wished to imprint it as
the central thing in the whole of Christianity.
This is it.
This the thing that lies nearest the Lord's
heart.
This the most important thing that we are
to gather about all that he said and
ever did, this.
We should remember that he gave his body
a sacrifice and shed his blood for the
forgiveness of human sin.
I want to submit to you that herein
we may perceive our Lord's wisdom in this
provision for his church.
A glance back at the history of the
Christian church will show us that there have
been days when the church has not seen
too clearly what was its main emphasis.
Days when the church felt that its main
task was a program of social reform, that
his message to the world was a message
for the improvement socially of the masses or
for the political setting up and putting down
of kings.
Days there have been many.
When the church has spoken to the world
as though the main thing in Christianity were
its rules and regulations, the church has bid
the world to try and keep the golden
rule.
Now that we are exhorted to do good
works unto all men and should have a
care for our neighbor, this is transparently clear
in the New Testament.
But these, I venture to say, are not
the central thing in Christianity.
The central thing about Christianity is the thing
which is unique among all religions of us,
that our Lord was a savior, come to
die for human sin, that sin might be
forgiven, man might be put right with God.
Happy the church who was allowed the constant
celebration of this central thing of Christianity, to
imprint upon its mind that this is the
fundamental thing.
Should we forget all else, then we must
remember this, preach it with all our powers.
Our Lord came as a sacrifice for sin.
My brother, if you have a heart for
the souls of men, yield not to this
world's incessant clamor, suggesting that you would make
a bigger impact on the world if you
dropped these mysterious things and got on with
social reform.
But my brother, listen rather to the Lord's
will.
Let him by this institution imprint upon our
minds that this is the message of Christianity.
This is the thing by which we remember
Christ, this pre-eminently, what he came to
do, not to relieve men's poverty necessarily, but
to die for their sin, bring man and
put him right with God.
We have lived to see a day when
in the name of Christ and Christian theology
there are many who would preach to us
that our Lord's divinity is atoning death, his
bodily resurrection, that these are ideas that exist,
that originated with the Church and were not
taught by our Lord himself.
Liberal scholars will call our attention to the
fact that the records that we have in
the Gospels of what our Lord said and
did are records compiled years after our Lord
went back to heaven, compiled by the Church.
They will argue to us and say, but
look, Jesus himself never claimed divinity, it was
the Church who claimed divinity for him.
As looking back over the years and remembering
him, his wisdom and his teaching, infectionately they
put a halo of divinity round his head,
and thinking to honour him, gave him the
status of Godhead.
But that was the Church, they will tell
you, who wrote the Gospels, not our Lord,
who wrote nothing.
His atoning death?
Say they again, this is not what our
Lord intended by his death at all.
His death was to show us how we
ought to deny self and say to God,
not my will but thine be done.
But if you please, they will tell us
there came later apostles and notably Saul of
Tarsus, with a mind soaked in Judaism and
its Old Testament sacrifices, and alas, the liberals
will tell us, men like Paul went and
spoiled the whole thing by interpreting the death
of Christ in the light of Old Testament
sacrifices, suggesting to us that God needed blood
and fire before he could forgive his erring
children.
And say our liberal theologians, you see, that's
not what Christ taught, that's what the apostles
taught, that's what the Church taught.
When we come to the glorious fact of
the resurrection, how could they say it's not
a fact at all, not really, it's only
a belief.
Say there you mustn't believe that the bones
literally came out of the grave, that's not
what our Lord meant at all.
He meant that if you were willing to
say no to flesh, to crucify self, you
would find new life in your experience of
God, and that's all he meant.
But those later Christians made a fable out
of it, made a myth out of it,
whereas our Lord only meant that we should
find, by being willing to crucify self, we
should find greater life in experience of God.
They misunderstood it and thought he meant that
he was going to literally, physically rise again
from the dead.
And if you haven't come across those kind
of theories, then don't.
How wise of God, who foresees the end
from the beginning, that our Lord himself, before
he died upon the cross, years before the
first gospel was written, or the first epistle
penned, our Lord himself should have instituted a
ceremony that gives the lie to all these
liberal fancies.
But we shall observe that whereas Matthew and
Luke are written sometime after our Lord's ascension
to heaven, recording for us the details of
the institution of the supper, the supper itself
was instituted by Christ before he died, and
was celebrated from the very word go in
the Christian church.
It stands as the earliest record we have
of what our Lord came, and what our
Lord taught about himself, and his work.
From Pentecost day onward, if not before, as
little groups of Christian men and women gathered
together, there they enacted a record that the
Lord himself told them to enact.
And you will observe that that record contains
what is vital to true Christianity.
Our Lord's atoning death, my body given, my
blood poured, specifically said for the remission of
sin.
Specifically described as the blood of the new
covenant, and long before there was ever a
book called the New Testament, Christians met to
celebrate the New Testament.
For the New Testament is not this book
you'll know, the New Testament.
The Testament, the covenant that Christ performed and
secured for us when he died, whereof the
symbol is the bread and the wine of
which we partake at the Lord's supper.
This is the blood of the New Testament.
Not only did he claim before he died
that he was going to die for human
sin, but implied in that claim is inevitably
the claim to divinity, to deity.
What ordinary human could claim to come and
die as a sacrifice for the sins of
the world?
What sane man would ever breathe any such
notion?
Moses in his highest flights of oratory, never
dreamed of making any such claim.
And Isaiah in his own ministry, for himself
never once expressed any such notion.
There's only one who being sane and commanding
men's respect, ever claimed he had come to
die for the sins of the whole world.
For the very claim implies he was more
than man, yea God incarnate.
For only God incarnate could offer a satisfactory
sacrifice for sin.
Do we not perceive that that very claim
that he was about to die for human
sin, involves the claim that he rose again?
For he ever and anon said it thus,
that he would be delivered, crucified, and the
third day rise again.
Indeed if he be not risen, as a
later apostle said, we are still in our
sins.
He is not God's son and of all
men we are the most miserable.
I would like now to point out how
Matthew, in his record of the supper, goes
out of his way to demonstrate to us
that the idea of the atoning death of
Christ, enshrined here in the Lord's supper, is
not an idea that originated with the church,
not even an idea that originated with the
apostles, but an idea that originated with Christ.
See how Matthew does it.
Passover was coming, Passover on which Christ should
die, and our Lord said that the Pharisees
would want to take him, but that he
himself, and determined to die on the Passover,
only a few hours distant now in time,
and he came with his followers to a
certain house of Simon, and there they made
him an ordinary supper, during the course of
which a woman anointed his head and feet
with ointment.
He gave rise to severe criticism, said the
disciples one and all, what a waste of
money, all that money poured out and lost
just on one occasion.
Our Lord defended the woman and said something
remarkable, said he, she has wrought a good
work, the poor you have always, me you
have not always, in that she has done
this, she has anointed me for my burial,
I suggest to you it descended upon them
like a thunderclap, burial, burial, the evidence as
I read it suggests that those apostles, for
all that Christ had said, were not really
expecting him to die, for had they been
expecting him to die, had they had the
slightest notion that this was the last occasion
ever on which they might have the opportunity
to express their gratitude to him, they would
have given him anything, wouldn't they?
Or do you sir think that those apostles
were meaner than you are?
Well come now, you wouldn't think of spending
every month perhaps on your wife, a new
dress, a mink overcoat, you would say yeah,
well yes I do love a good woman
but you know 450 pounds every month, I
mean isn't that a bit stiff, wherefore this
waste, the money might have been yes, given
to the poor or something hey, or well
no not that, put in your car maybe
or something, but 450 pounds on my wife
every month, ah yes, I suppose one dark
day the doctor said to you that your
wife has only two months to live, it
would do her good maybe, at any rate
it can do her no harm, if you
gave her a cruise in the Mediterranean sir,
if it were your last chance to show
your love, would you grudge the 450 if
you had it, it being the last and
you knowing at the last opportunity, would you
write off Peter and John and James as
so impossibly mean, that they would have grudged
our Lord that token, that tribute if they
had realised that almost tomorrow he would be
dead, no they thought they had him always,
no says Christ the poor you have always,
but you see gentlemen you've forgotten haven't you,
that you're not having me always, they weren't
even expecting him to die so soon, after
you say they found out, as our Lord
told them and when they found out of
course they said ah yes now we see,
ah yes of course that's what the Old
Testament said, yes and he's going to die
for sin, now we shall help him to
get arrested, we shall do everything in our
power so, and they fell into the scheme
and they said this would be a good
thing, we hadn't thought of that before, now
if only we could get our Lord crucified
by the Jews, we could tell the people
he had fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy, hi this is
a scheme this, and this will prove to
them that he's Messiah, so Peter, so John,
I fancy not, they went out into the
night and slept while our Lord prayed, and
presently there came the squad to arrest him,
manfully Peter drew his sword, surprised that the
Lord did nothing, and then to his utter
dismay was told Peter put up your sword
into its place, what was this, bold men
prepared to give their last drop of blood
to save him from dying, knowing the disappointment
of a zeal that would have given everything
only now to be repulsed and said no,
I don't want it Peter, who wants it,
you're not going to stand there and let,
let them take you are they says Peter,
don't you know what they're going to do
to you, if they get their hands on
you, they're not going to stand there just
like that and let them take you, they
said our Lord but then you see Peter,
I could if I wanted call for 12
legions of angel each with a sword you
know, then how should the scripture be fulfilled,
what scripture, why that thus it must be
that I must be taken and die, oh
said Peter, oh said John, oh said James,
and oh said they all, oh well if
that's your idea that isn't ours, goodbye, then
all his disciples forsook him and fled, for
the Messiah that willingly gave himself up to
his enemies to die, that wasn't in all
their theological vocabulary, it is sheer nonsense to
say the idea originated with the church, let's
finally look at the very chiefest of the
apostles Peter himself, for when the others ran
he came back and entered the judgment hall
where our Lord was on trial before the
religious authorities, he went to see the end,
what would this Jesus of Nazareth do now,
here was a situation if ever you saw
one, now if he had resisted the squad
of soldiers and done a miracle and called
angels to deliver him, then there was some
sense in claiming to be the Son of
God, but for a man who lamely gave
himself up like that and let himself be
overpowered and taken into the judgment hall, well
now he better be careful, they're bent on
getting evidence to crucify him, and if he
dare squeak now about being God's Son and
Messiah they'll have his head, Peter listens with
bated breath, as the high priest at last
challenges the prisoner himself, are you then the
Son of the Blessed, I think I see
Peter tremble in his shoes, whatever will he
say now, now he's given himself up bone
hand and foot, what will he say now,
he'll never still claim to be Messiah will
he, he'll never still claim to be the
Son of God, it'll be suicide if he
does, but the voice came back from the
bound prisoner, I am, and somebody nudged Peter
and Peter looked round, it was a girl,
he says, you're one of them aren't you,
look here he says, I'm not with him,
if Christ had stood there with a sword
drawn and legions of angels laying his enemies
low and claiming to be Son of God,
Peter would have been with him to the
last drop of blood, willingly to give himself
up to death and still claim to be
God's Son, and he says Peter I'm not
with that, I'm sorry, I'm not with that,
I'm not with him, he never heard such
a suicidal thing in all his life, and
it was knowledge, common knowledge in Jerusalem, but
when our Lord both claimed to be the
Son of God and at the same time
willingly gave himself to death, that his chief
apostles washed his hands, I say again it's
adamant nonsense to say that our Lord's claim
to give himself to an atoning death as
a sacrifice for sin originated with the church,
adamant nonsense, this the central thing of Christianity,
that one should come to our world claiming
to be God's Son and human together, that
he claimed to willingly give himself to death,
this was a something that originated in the
heart of God, was written in Old Testament
scripture, was spoken to us first by the
Lord, first by the Lord, confirmed unto us
by them that heard him, so I come
back to my main point, time and time
again we gather to celebrate the Lord's supper,
we stand so to speak on the bedrock
of God's divine revelation to men, oh cling
to it my young brother, be you only
faithful to the Lord here, and come at
his injunction constantly to remember him, and God
will write it on your very heart, and
you will come to such understanding of God's
gospel, such an appreciation of God's divine revelation,
that you shall be kept safe from that
insidious attack of liberal theology, which is overthrowing
the faith of so many.
But someone will say, suppose only now that
Christ did want to remind us of his
death, because this is the central thing in
Christianity, why please did he do it this
way, to institute a ceremony with bread and
wine, in which the congregation of the church
takes part, receiving that bread and wine, surely
the memory could have been perpetuated somehow else,
someone could have got up and read a
book that Christ himself wrote, he could have
written surely, in which he explained the doctrine
of the atonement in full, and we just
listened, why did he make it something in
which we not only listened, but the something
in which we had personally to take part,
eating the bread and drinking the wine, you
say first of all because the thing graphically
portrays his death, the body and the blood
separate, so obviously.
May I suggest another reason, because this Lord's
Supper is not merely a record, but it
is a symbol of a covenant, a symbol
of a covenant, a covenant under which we
are the beneficiaries, a covenant under which we
receive all our spiritual blessing, and as we
take the symbol, we reaffirm again and again,
that we receive God's salvation on God's terms,
you see this is the new covenant, the
cup of the new covenant, new because it
stands distinct from the old covenant, what was
the old covenant, and the old covenant being
the ten commandments was put inside the ark,
which formed the throne of God, the old
covenant expressed the principles upon which God proposed
to govern that nation of Israel, and he
offered them the covenant at the foot of
Sinai and said, now these are my terms,
if you and I are going to be
in communion one with another, and in relation,
and you shall be my people, and I
shall be your God, and I shall be
your King, and you will be my subjects,
now here are the terms upon which I
propose to rule you, are you prepared for
the task?
My sacrifice has obtained for us a great
salvation, there are terms there too, as we
take these symbols, we are saying, yes Lord,
I receive you as Lord, and these your
tasks, come let us consider the situations, Luke
gives it, Luke points out that when our
Lord arrived on his final visit to Jerusalem,
he found the nation's heart barred against him,
robbers in the temple, vineyard men, who had
appropriated for their own pockets the vineyard and
its produce, that belonged to God, even as
the rightful heir came to the vineyard, they
said this is the heir will kill him,
and take the inheritance ourselves, Jerusalem city that
should have been hid, occupied by the enemy,
what did he do?
He had come as Israel's king, riding upon
an ass, hailed as the king that cometh
in the name of the Lord, but the
city was occupied by the enemy, and presently
they were to cast him out, put him
to a tree, must he go back to
heaven defeated?
I'll see now, whereas for many nights before
Calvary, he had been going out of the
city at night time, because it wasn't safe
for him to stay in the city, during
the day the multitude hung upon his lips,
but at night he took the precaution of
going outside the city, because the vineyard men
were after him, came the last night, said
he to his disciples, now go into the
city, you shall see a man bearing a
picture of water, a most unusual thing like
an Irishman pushing a pram, you know, a
man bearing a picture of water, follow him
in, and find out who owns the house
where he goes in, it won't be that
man, it will be some other man who
owns the house, and speak to him, why
all this secrecy Lord, have you made arrangements?
Yes I've made arrangements, on the quiet, because
Jerusalem is a hostile city, they're after my
blood, humanly speaking it's dangerous for me to
be found there, but there's one man in
Jerusalem, who's prepared to take the very best
room in his house, and knowing that my
enemies are after my blood, he's prepared to
open his door and have me right in
the very heart of enemy's territory, and there
tonight I go, why all was dark around,
in a city that was thirsting for his
blood, he not only kept the Passover in
that upper room, but he instituted his kingdom,
kingdom, gave the terms of the covenant, in
token gave his body and blood to seal
the covenant, happy that man, who gave his
lounge as a place where in enemy territory,
Christ might establish his kingdom, honour, he formed
the picture of every human heart that dares
to receive Christ, for this world's night is
not yet past, the day cometh, the night
is indeed fast spent, but it's not yet
past, and our Lord is still rejected, all
those human hearts, that being in enemy territory,
have opened the very best room and said
Lord come in, and set up your kingdom
here, ah those lovely little groups of Christians
around the Roman world, when the Caesars raged,
tried to block out the very name of
Christ from the earth, all those lovely little
homes, those barns, those secret meeting places, where
a few Christians gathered, to take bread and
take wine, what doing, pledging again that they
were members of his kingdom, that in this
little spot of earth, Christ reigned supreme, their
Lord and God, they were his, I think
you've not achieved the heart of God, and
touched the heart of the ascended Christ, when
in answer to his request, they last pledged
their loyalty, that same heart looks down upon
us now brethren, none the less touched, when
in a hostile world you gather, and you
break the bread, and drink the cup, affirming
again, that here at least, Christ is king,
and oh what a kingdom, what are the
terms of his covenant, how much superior to
that old first covenant, where the responsibility lay
upon men, by the keeping of God's law,
to earn salvation, oh what a different covenant
this, where all we have to do is
bankrupt sinners, to receive for nothing, salvation, that
Christ has secured, and with it forgiveness, and
with it the promise that God's Holy Spirit
shall write his laws upon our hearts and
minds, well our Holy Spirit also is witness
to us, and he says I'll write them
on their hearts and minds, and their sins
and iniquities, I will remember no more forever,
oh what a lovely covenant, we said yes
to him when first we came in our
bankruptcy, but do we not love to say
it as often as we can possibly say
it, and look up into his face, and
take the cup, break it, and take the
cup, and say Lord I affirm it, I
take it, yes I do, and had I
never done before, I should do it right
now, and then they jangled, forgetful of the
solemnity of the occasion, forgetful of the depth
of the Lord's suffering, and he reproved them
gently, saying brethren now, it's not the big
man that's the boss, that the big one
serves, and the one who serves is greater,
oh what a lovely kingdom when the very
king holds this viewpoint, he said you know,
I'm among you is one that's further to
me, now tell me said he, who in
this world is counted the bigger, the man
that serves at the table, or the people
that sit at the table, well don't talk
about that, it's the man that sits that's
the big man isn't it, and the man
that serves, well he's known as the small
man, you go home tonight, you push a
button by the fireplace in your lounge, and
tell me the waiter comes, and says yes
sir, oh wouldn't you feel important, my brother,
suppose you could go home tonight, and press
a button, and God's own son came, and
said what would you like, I am among
you said he, as one that serves, and
you're the ones that sit at meat, oh
how it tugs our hearts, and how can
we have it otherwise, do we not sit
at meat, great banquet of salvation, and watch
him go and serve, ah the toil he
had, to prepare the feast, we sit and
eat, to there, again we take the bread,
and take the cup, I'm worthy to sit
and eat, but he insists on doing the
serving, it's there that we begin to learn
the ways of heaven, how can you do
that my brother, and immediately turn around, and
try to boss it over your fellow Christian,
and says here yes sir, hi there gentlemen,
now I had to borrow this room, I
had to borrow it you know, it isn't
mine this room, and you continued with me
said all this long while, how grateful I
am to you men, and we think on
the quiet, well I haven't done very much,
but oh how grateful Christ is, you've continued
with me right to this very present time,
it was genuinely a comfort to him was
it not, because what would you think if
when he said now, now, now my good
brethren, you'll be here at Passover hour won't
you, I'd like you to be here, to
take this bread and wine, and Peter turned
around and said oh sorry Lord but I
can't come today, no I don't think it's
important Lord, no I don't get much out
of it Lord, oh I don't think even
Peter though really knew how much Christ got
out of it, you continued with me, oh
how he buried it, I'll do better for
you than this one day said he, one
of these days it won't be any more
borrowed up a room, I'll appoint you a
kingdom, and you'll sit and eat and drink
with me at my table, in my father's
kingdom, this for now, you see he says
I'm rejected, my good brethren he says you'll
have to pay your own expenses in this
world now for they cast me out, and
I shall be reckoned with the outlaws, one
of these days I shall give you a
place at my table, in my father's kingdom,
prophesying not only his death but his coming
again, for at this supper are the fundamentals
of our faith, his atoning death, his deity,
his resurrection, his promise coming again, and in
the meantime Peter he says you're running into
some trouble presently, your face is going to
be tested almost at breaking point but I
pray for you Peter, and you who sit
here today my disciple they're keeping this covenant
supper, I pray for you so that on
a certain day your face will not fail
and you'll sit down with me in the
courts of heaven, oh lovely kingdom and lovely
king, I to sit with him be it
only a borrowed room and only bread and
only wine, lovely thing to sit with him,
while he says look and as sure as
you sit here today I shall see to
it you'll sit with me at my father's
table in his kingdom for I shall pray
you there, I shall pray for you that
your faith shall never fail.
At that they went out, said here you'll
have to pay your expenses and fight your
own way he says because I am to
be reckoned an outlaw and for this time
you must be prepared to take your place
with me and share my rejection, why have
a supper constantly repeated in which we take
part, but in this world that still rejects
him we might as constantly reaffirm our loyalty
to the lord, oh you say there's only
a small thing and I want to get
busy serving the lord, oh I say yes,
here what I say now I'm no expert,
but I'm told that when dutiful husbands go
away on business say for six months they
write once a month, I'm told that deluxe
husbands you know the very super sort of
husbands write once a week, I have occasionally
come across extraordinary men who wrote every day,
they may be angels I'd reckon, you say
I shouldn't bother an old fellow writing home
to your wife aren't you, aren't you doing
the business for her, I mean get on
with the business aren't you earning a new
coat, well don't bother to write and tell
her anything about that, just get on with
the business, ah but love won't have it
that way, affection won't have it that way,
he could work for all six months but
if he never wrote and it may be
on his head that cold weather today and
we had cabbage for dinner or whatever folks
but you see is it not the gesture,
you say but never mind old man even
if you don't write you said I will
once you don't have to keep on saying
it, don't you have to keep on saying
it, and the lord says yes I know
your mind, I just like you to come
please and reassign it to me, shall we
say lord that I'm too busy getting on
with your work shall we or shall we
not see that the lord wants it and
values it, else if he never requested don't
we do it, if you walk round the
walls of the city of Chester they will
show you into a little museum of a
place on the walls and inside there a
table and on the table a board painted
in dark browns and blues a smudge of
meaningless colour it looks and then the keeper
will come and bring a brightly polished tankard
and set it down on the board and
as he does so tell you to look
in the side of the tankard and there
reflected in the tankard are these colours, ah
but now reflected in the curve of that
tankard they are no longer a meaningless shamble
of colours there grows a face and the
face was the face of the exiled king,
his loyal followers in a country that was
against their king gathered to think about him
and plot for him and as they drank
their cup they put it on the board,
the colours meant nothing to the world outside
but to those who knew where to look
they saw the very face of the king
himself and the world thinks it's a cheap
thing my brother they see nothing in that
bread and wine but all can you not
see as you take that cup and take
that ordinary bread can you not on time
see the very face of your absent king.
Some understand this is all very good but
this is somewhat remote isn't it, devotional maybe
but ought we not to have something practical,
practical indeed we ought to have something practical
and a tremendously practical emphasis in our Christian
life not good merely to dwell upon our
blessings in Christ without seeing our responsibilities but
should we wish to find a place where
Christianity blossoms in all its practical implications he
says there certainly should find no place better
than the Lord Father for when it comes
to the practical advancement of Christianity in my
life the real strivings of God's Holy Spirit
to make me into a holy man there
is a place where God's Spirit has calculated
to do it supremely above all and that
is the Lord Father.
So Paul writes to the Corinthian church now
alas in a quagmire of misbehavior and calls
their attention to the Lord's supper and says
Brethren you must take this supper seriously you
know the Lord instituted it on the night
in which he was betrayed our ugly word
that any could betray the Lord when we
think of his lordship yes says Paul I
want to talk to you about his lordship
for I have received of the Lord that
which also I delivered unto you how that
the Lord Jesus in the night when he
was betrayed took bread and Brethren he says
if you were to take that supper unworthily
you would be guilty of the body and
blood of the Lord for this is the
Lord's supper we have not merely a savior
but we have a divine Lord and he
has put the seal of his lordship on
the command that we break bread and drink
wine in memory of him.
That is all there is of this recording
may the Lord bless you as you meditate
and pray about it.