Our home church, Gospel Light Baptist Church, only share the Lord’s Supper once a quarter with the most recent being this past Sunday (March 24, 2013). There are no qualifications in scripture about how often this special and sacred time should be observed within the church; we find the only instructions regarding its offering through the writings of the apostle Paul, And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come (I Corinthians 11:24-26).
There’s nothing magical about the elements of the Lord’s Supper. The unleavened bread and the grape juice do not transform to the literal blood and body of the Lord Jesus Christ, as some faiths teach. The partaking of the Lord’s Supper does not provide atonement for our sins, as some faiths teach. The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to cause us to take pause and to examine ourselves, our relationships with fellow believers, our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and the ultimate sacrifice paid by Him. We need to remember and to be reminded, not only during the Lord’s Supper but daily this teaching of Paul: For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8).
A few years back, Ray Boltz, a Christian contemporary songwriter and singer, released a song called Feel the Nails. In this song, the artist asks does Jesus still hear the crowds cry “crucify him!” and does he still feel pain of the nails piercing his hands and feet every time we fail him. For me, it is a sobering thought – each time I have chosen to sin rather than to resist, every time I have failed to listen to guidance of the Holy Spirit – what if I have caused the Lord Jesus Christ to relive the physical and mental anguish of the cross? This song’s message is powerful and does cause its audience to reflect on their conduct after coming to accept God’s free gift of eternal salvation.
We must remember and never forget that it was all our sins – past, present, and future – that put Jesus on the cross. Paul wrote to the early Christian church to remind them of this very fact: For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight (Colossians 1:19-22).
