Thinking throught The Lord's Supper
Do This in RemembranceThe Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the church that Jesus commanded His people to do in remembrance of Him (Matt 26:26–29; Mark 14:22–25 Luke 22:17–20; 1 Cor 11:23–34. It includes the breaking and eating of the bread which symbolized the breaking of Christ’s body in His sacrifice for sinners, as well as the sharing of the cup of wine which symbolized the shedding of His blood as a propitiation for sins.
The Essence
The fact that Paul repeats Christ’s instruction to “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19(1 Cor 11:23–25Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)), plainly puts the focus on the memorial aspect of this ordinance. That is to say, the primary significance of this meal is to remember the work that Christ accomplished on the cross, in paying for sins and providing salvation according to the promise of the New Covenant (Luke 22:20 Matt 26:28
But sometimes those who hold to a memorial view of the Table are criticized for not esteeming it highly enough. “Just remember? That’s it?” For this reason, we need to underscore that this remembering that both Jesus and Paul call us to is not merely an informal, primarily passive, casual calling of events to mind. This kind of remembering is an intentional, active, and meditatively intense act of worship that bears on the past, present and future. It bears on the past as we actively meditate on the gravity and the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice. It bears on the present as we believe afresh, once again proclaiming the Lord’s death (1 Cor 11:26. And it bears on the future, as we “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor 11:26, remembering that Christ is indeed returning to judge His enemies, vindicate His saints, and set up His kingdom.
The Frequency
Regarding how frequently a church should observe the Lord’s Supper, honest Christians must admit that no prescription of frequency is given in Scripture. The command is merely to do it “as often as you drink it, in remembrance of [Him]” (1 Cor 11:25. It’s true that Luke describes the early church as “continually devoting themselves…to the breaking of bread” (Acts 2) suggesting that they observed the Lord’s Supper as often as they came together, which, presumably, was at least weekly but likely even more frequent than that in those very early days. Nevertheless, one must keep in mind that the Book of Acts is not primarily prescriptive but descriptive. Thus, I believe individual churches have liberty to determine the issue of frequency of the Lord’s Supper.
