Do we celebrate each Lord’s Supper “in spirit and in truth”?
“This do in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:24-25). Such is the Lord’s instruction to us as we meet each week to break bread. And so we might ask ourselves: As we gather around the table, are we truly remembering the Lord? If so, it will be the result of the following:
A Voluntary Exercise
You may have heard of Pavlov’s dogs, whose meals were preceded by the ringing of a bell. Eventually, even when their noses were not excited by a tempting odor, the dogs would still salivate when the bell was rung. In a similar way, we humans may automatically become happy or fearful in response to a sound or sight connected with some past experience. But the ability to call something to mind at will is a uniquely human trait.
Without any stimulation of our senses, we can voluntarily recall the details and the significance of events we have witnessed. It is as if we could visit a library in our brains, pull out a record of a former experience, and mentally recreate the situation. But we can do even more than this—we can enter sympathetically into the experiences of others, and think about events in their lives simply by hearing or reading about them. The One we profess to love and serve asks us to remember Him in that way.
A Regular Exercise
Israel’s yearly feasts were a constant call to remember their God and His provision for them. The Feast of the Passover provides a clear example. On that night the Israelites could look on the blood on the doorposts and the lintel and be reminded and assured of their deliverance. At the same time, the Lord saw sufficient ground in that blood to satisfy every righteous claim. In this way Christ and His death were (in type) brought before the minds of the Israelites, and they in turn brought Him before their God in worship.
The Passover was not to be enacted only once, but repeatedly. The Lord was asking His people to use the faculty of memory on a regular basis. Today the Father still seeks worshippers. In the Breaking of Bread the two things mentioned above— that is, both the value of the Lamb to God and the Lamb’s value to His people— should occupy our minds.
In the 21st century, however, we are unfortunately apt to focus on what the Son of God means to us, while overlooking what His person and work mean to God. This is a deficiency that elders, and indeed all who teach, should seek to remedy. All aspects of the work of the Lord Jesus ought to occupy our minds at the Breaking of Bread— for in Scripture, the health of an assembly is primarily measured, not by its ingenuity in forming links with the community or in its ability to impact the neighborhood, but by whether it gives due place to Christ and His Word.1
A Heartfelt Response
W. E. Vine informs us that in 1 Corinthians 11:24- 25 Paul does not teach that the Lord’s Supper is to be carried out merely as a ritual, for the words “in remembrance of Me” require “an affectionate calling of the Person Himself to mind.”
Being in the place where He will be remembered, and at the time when others who profess a similar desire have gathered, is certainly a physical necessity. But that alone is not enough. If we are to be faithful to our Lord’s command, our hearts have to be prepared by a purposeful and private recollection of the Saviour and His work. Even the dullest brain may be stirred once a week by the sight of the bread and wine, as Pavlov’s dog responded automatically to the ringing of the bell. But we know, don’t we, that our God and Saviour deserves more than this?
Yes, the Lord is looking for a heartfelt response. That is a spiritual necessity if we are to enter into the meaning of the Breaking of Bread. Spurgeon reminded us we may “…see the signs, yet see not Him.” Some of us may have to admit that we cannot always say as the Lord’s Day comes around, “Your name, even your memory, is the desire of our souls” (Isa. 26:8, NASB), but that attitude is essential if we are to remember Him “in spirit and in truth.” Our Lord’s words at the last Passover should shame us when we “appear before [Him] empty” (see Ex. 23:15) He said, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Lk. 22:15, NASB). And our remembrance of Him in the company of others on the Lord’s Day will be most natural if it is nourished by a daily “calling Him to mind” when we are alone throughout the week.
A Disciplined Desire
How do we furnish our minds with the material essential for voluntary remembrance?
The Old Testament shows it was mandatory for every worshipper in Israel to examine his lamb carefully before presenting it to the Lord. In hindsight, we know that each lamb was intended to speak of the Lamb of God. It was therefore to be without blemish and without spot. But we also know that God did not find real satisfaction in such sacrifices. What it pleased Him to do in those days before Calvary was to bring the perfection of His Son (in type) before the minds of His people. And if in sincerity of heart and with discerning eye they brought to Him the best of the flock, He accepted their worship.
I believe the thought of an Israelite examining his lamb with care ought to stir me to endeavor to think and speak appropriately when leading others in remembering Him at the Breaking of Bread. This can only be done if I make it a habit to reflect prayerfully and often on the perfections of Jesus our Saviour, as revealed in every part of the Word of God. True remembrance demands personal discipline, as does every other aspect of holy living.2
The teaching of the Old Testament provides many beautiful previews and pictures of Christ, but we need the fourfold historical account of His holy life and death as outlined in the Gospels to fully appreciate the way Jesus thought and spoke about things, the way He reacted to human need, and the way He poured out Himself in sacrificial service. His patience with those who were closest to Him is a challenging study in itself. All that He did and said was climaxed at Calvary when He offered Himself without spot to God. He calls us to remember Him in that way.
Moving on to the preaching of the apostles in the book of Acts, and the expositions of our Lord’s glory in the Epistles and the Revelation, we find more rich insights into His person and work. All the Scriptures are designed by the Holy Spirit to ensure that we think appropriately about Him. If we make it a habit to daily meditate on the Word of God, such thoughts will be available for voluntary recall when we come together. Our Lord is looking for such a response to His love. Will we truly remember Him this week?
Endnotes
1 Compare Rev. 2 & 3
2 1 Tim. 4:7. Any attempt to organize or bring structure into the worship of the church is a confession of spiritual weakness. Men do not put scaffolding around a building unless it is incomplete or some flaw has been discovered in its walls. Similarly, a lame man reveals his pitiable condition by using a crutch. The ideal would be to repair the breach or strengthen the leg, but such answers call for labor in the first case and for exercise in the second. Believers who have not time or desire for such cures are in a very low state indeed. They publicize that they have left their first love.
Through the swift-ebbing years of this age Christ Himself is its builder, adding stone to stone to this Temple exceeding magnificent, while He awaits the day when at last complete, sanctified, beautiful, spotless, and radiant with His heavenly glory it shall be presented to Himself and taken into the full enjoyment of an eternal association of blessedness, the features of which are at present undisclosed. —J. B. WATSON, The Church: A Symposium
Written by Colin Anderson