Hey Church!
We’re doing Communion this Sunday! It’s going to be a little different, because we're doing church online, but it’s going to be just as meaningful! So, grab some bread, grab some juice and be ready for Communion at the end of the service online this Sunday.
Now, with that, we imagine you have some questions. Questions on the sanctity of the Lord’s Supper, questions about what type of bread, what type of juice.
We want to answer those questions and alleviate those worries.
1. The sanctity of the Lord’s Supper.
Some people might think we need to be together in a room, with the worship team singing and everyone praying, with the pastor right there administering the elements for it to be “acceptable.” We want you to know that we don’t believe that’s true. We believe the Lord’s Supper is an Ordinance given to us by Jesus, not a Sacrament. It’s not something that only a priest can administer, but we believe that this is something Jesus commands all followers to do, whether they are with family at the dinner table, in a Lifegroup, or doing church online in the company of other believers.
Remember the words of the Apostle Paul given to him by Jesus…
"For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-25 NLT
Jesus was after the heart and purpose of communion, not specifically when or where it is taken. We take communion out of obedience to Jesus, and we do it to remember what he did for us.
We also do it, because, as Paul says, every time we do it, it reminds us of the message we carry to a watching world when we are not together.
"For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again."
1 Corinthians 11:26 NLT
As long as we’re accomplishing these things: the remembrance of him, and we are doing it in one spirit, proclaiming our message, then we have achieved Jesus’ purpose in commanding us to take communion as a body of believers.
What’s interesting is that Paul wasn’t with the church in Corinth when they were taking communion. He wrote them this letter to encourage them to be taking communion and to take with the right heart and spirit.
2. What type of bread do we use?
When people are concerned with this question they are more specifically asking, leavened or un-leavened bread? This is straight from the Gospel Coalition on the matter and as church we agree…
Arguments against the use of leavened bread have centered around Jesus’s practice. It’s not what Jesus used, proponents contend, and moreover, leaven is used to represent sin and evil in the Bible. But, as Letham points out, the Greek word used for “bread” in the New Testament (in relation to the Lord’s Supper) is not azymos, the term for unleavened bread, but artos, the word for “a small round loaf of ordinary bread.”
The word Jesus used does not require unleavened bread. Nor is leaven always a symbol for sin and evil in the Bible. In the parable in Matthew 13:33, for example, leaven seems to represent the kingdom of heaven. So, the arguments against leavened bread are not persuasive.
In other words, church, the type of bread doesn’t matter, just that it’s bread. So even a cracker qualifies.
3. What type of wine or juice should I use?
I think the great theologian, John Calvin, said it best:
“Whether the bread is leavened or unleavened, the wine red or white—it makes no difference. These things are indifferent and left at the church’s discretion.”
-John Calvin
Church, it makes no difference what type of bread or what kind of wine or juice you choose to use. The power is not in the elements themselves; the power is in the promise those elements represent. So, grab your kid’s Juicy Juice, grape or even apple, maybe some grape juice from the donut shop, and put it in a cup next to your coffee.
God sent his one and only Son to become like us in every way, yet without sin, to die for our sin problem. So, what’s important is that you remember the bread symbolizes his body that he willingly laid down for you, and that the juice symbolizes his blood that was shed for you, so that you could be made right with God and now come boldly to the throne of grace, because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. What’s important is, that after you take it, you remember the message and mission you have been called to.
So Church, grab your bread and juice and let’s get ready to celebrate the Lord’s Supper this Sunday!
God Bless,
Josh Price
Lead Pastor || Lifeway Church
