This morning I read an essay on the purpose of the Lord’s Supper[1]. The part of the essay that really struck me had to do with this question: How should Christians approach the Supper? Stephen Charnock provided five basic attitudes of heart and mind we might consider as we come to the Supper, with a few subpoints to further understand each one.
- Reverentially
- With a reverence of the holiness of God.
- With a reverence of the justice of God.
- Holily
- With mourning hearts for sin.
- With deep considerations of the cursed nature and demerit of sin.
- With strong resolutions against sin.
- Believingly
- We should profess our adherence to him.
- Look up to Christ in His death as a conqueror.
- Plead this death with God.
- Plead this death against sin and Satan.
- Humbly
- Consider in this representation what we should have suffered.
- Consider the deplorable misery wherein we were.
- Thankfully
- Blessing God for His love in offering up His Son to death.
- Blessing Christ for His love in dying.
- The costliness of this redemption by the death of Christ should excite us to show it forth with thankfulness.
- The gain we have by it should excite us to it.
I share this as food for thought. Charnock’s outline gives me a lot to think and pray about, not only in my role as pastor in providing the Supper on behalf of the Lord as His people gather for worship, but also as a sinner saved by the grace of God, a sinner who needs to receive this sacrament as a sign and seal of God’s grace as much as anyone else.
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”[2]
Scripture quotations
are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by
Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved.
[1] Stephen
Charnock, “A Discourse of the End of the Lord’s Supper” in The Works
of Stephen Charnock, 4:392-426.
[2] This text,
1
Corinthians 11:26, was the basis for Charnock’s essay.
This is a very good list and serves as a helpful reflection. In the LCMS, we differ on one point: we receive the body and blood of Christ with the pastor speaking Christ's words in "first person" (we are receiving from Christ himself) so in point 4.1 there is no "representation" - it "is". Other than that, yes!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. I didn't delve into what Charnock wrote for each subpoint but the idea in 4.1 was that we have humility before the Lord as we receive the Supper, knowing that He was our representative in suffering the punishment our sin deserved.
DeleteSorry I previously posted Unknown.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good list and serves as a helpful reflection. In the LCMS, we differ on one point: we receive the body and blood of Christ with the pastor speaking Christ's words in "first person" (we are receiving from Christ himself) so in point 4.1 there is no "representation" - it "is". Other than that, yes!
Sorry again - Jeff McQuistan
ReplyDeleteNO worries Jeff. I appreciate your thoughts:)
Delete