For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 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. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 1 Corinthians 11:23-30.
1. The Lord's Supper is one of two ordinances of the new testament church. Baptism by immersion in water is the other. Whereas water baptism is administered to the believer in Christ once and is not repeated, we are instructed by the Lord Jesus to celebrate His Supper often.
2. The Lord's Supper was instituted by our Lord on the night before His crucifixion and He commanded the observance of it by His followers when He said, "This do in remembrance of Me." (vs. 24)
3. The Lord's Supper points back to the historic fact of the first coming of Christ and His death on the cross and it also points forward to His second coming when He will come again as He has promised.
4. Thus, the Lord's Supper is a memorial service. We are to remember His work of love on the cross of Calvary; His body slain and His blood shed. We are not only to remember His work on the Cross, but remember the Lord Himself, who loved us and gave Himself for us. We love Him because He first loved us. We are to look back to what He accomplished at Calvary on our behalf.
5. The Lord Supper not only commemorates, but proclaims the Lord's death (vs. 26), "ye do shew" means "to proclaim." Believers in Christ, therefore, in observing this ordinance proclaim to themselves, to each other, and to the world, that the death of Christ is the foundation of their salvation and life.
6. We are to observe the Lord's Supper until He returns (vs. 26).
7. Since the Bible teaches the oneness of the body of Christ, all who have been born-again and who are therefore members of the church, which is His body, should participate in the Lord's Supper after examining themselves. No born-again believer should excuse himself from partaking (vs. 28).
8. The Lord's Supper is for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
9. The Lord's Supper is not for the unsaved. They really have no part in it and should not partake of it. The unsaved need to be saved by believing on the Lord Jesus and receiving Him as their personal Saviour from sin and death and then they can partake of the Lord's Supper.
10. The Lord's Supper has no saving merit and it is not a means of imparting God's grace to the one who participates in it. Salvation is by God's grace through personal faith in the Lord Jesus. The Lord's Supper is a memorial ordinance.
11. From Acts 20:7 we learn that it was the practice of the disciples in the early church to meet on the first day of the week and to break bread. The first day of the week (Sunday), the day of Christ's resurrection, is the day that Christians worship and have the Lord's Supper.
12. The bread represents His Body which was broken (sacrificed) for us.
13. The cup of grape juice represents the new testament in His Blood which He shed on the Cross for us for the remission of sins.
14. A fitting observance of the Lord's Supper includes reverence and self-examination (vs. 27-29). The one who partakes of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy or careless manner brings condemnation upon himself.
15. The Lord's Supper presents us with a threefold view of Christ and the believer:
Past—Calvary and the Lord's death.
Present—We show forth the Lord's death as often as we eat the bread and drink the cup.
Future—Until He comes.
This is the Lord's Supper. Our Lord instituted it. He has told us to do it in remembrance of Him until He returns!
Copied from notes by Stephen Ross for WholesomeWords.org 2012.