“THE ELEMENTS AND THE EXAM”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES

I. Introduction
Many of you know I’m a bit of a “history buff.” Regardless of whether it’s world history or American history, I’ve always believed that the famous statement, usually credited to eighteenth century British statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke, is true. He said: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

The American Civil War and World War II have always been of particular interest. The country we live in today was shaped largely by the outcome of the Civil War. And the world we live in today was shaped largely by the outcome of World War II. Over the years I’ve read and studied much about both conflicts. And in both cases there were countless examples of those who did not learn from history. And more often than not, those who did not learn from history were doomed to repeat the errors of the past.

One thing I’ve learned is that war can bring out the very worst in everyone from a world leader to a lowly foot soldier. Perhaps, ironically, I’ve also learned that war can bring out the very best in everyone from world leaders to foot soldiers as well.

When it comes to world leaders, I believe that Winston Churchill was one of the most inspirational men of the last several hundred years. Among other things, he’s well-known for some great and insightful quotes. Some of them are quite humorous.
• He said, “Show me a young Conservative and I will show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I will show you someone with no brains.”
• Regarding one of his political rivals, Clement Atlee, Churchill said, “Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed, he has much to be modest about.”
• When speaking on the virtues of democracy, he qualified his remarks by saying, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” (the man on the street interviews on Watter’s World on Fox News)
• At a cocktail party a verbal joust between Churchill and Lady Astor went some-thing like this – She said, “Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink.” To which, it is said, Churchill replied, “Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it.”

But most of Churchill’s famous quotes were profound. Speaking of the Royal Air Force pilots killed in aerial combat with the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in 1940, he said, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

In and around the city of Bastogne in Belgium, in what would become known as the Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War II raged during the months of December, 1944 and January, 1945. In a furious battle lasting five weeks, the German army threw everything it had left at the Allies.
In those five weeks more than 19,000 American soldiers died, and another 38,000 were wounded. Their sacrifice is remembered on a memorial in the city of Bastogne. The inscription reads: “Seldom has so much American blood been shed in the course of a single action. Oh, Lord, help us to remember.”

That’s a fitting tribute to those courageous men who laid down their lives. We need to remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in order to defend us from our ene-mies and to protect us from harm. We should remember. We do not want to forget.
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II. Text
Not forgetting is what this morning is all about. We are here to remember the One who sacrificed His life for us. We have great respect for the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who have died on our behalf, and rightly so, but Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf was infinitely greater, and the stakes involved were infinitely higher.

We need to understand that Jesus’ suffering on the cross was far beyond anything we can imagine. I am not merely referring to His physical suffering, as horrendous as crucifixion was, but to the spiritual dimension of His agony. You and I have nothing by which we can measure it. We simply cannot comprehend it. The man Jesus was without sin. He lived His earthly life in perfect communion with His Father in heaven. They were united as one. In fact, Jesus said that very thing. “I and the Father are one (John 10:30).”

They have never been apart. From eternity past to eternity future God the Father and God the Son were, are, and always will be united and in perfect communion – except during those three hours when the Father crushed the Son under the weight of your sin and mine. And as incomprehensible as that was, for Jesus, it was even worse.

The Prophet Habakkuk tells us, “(God’s) eyes are too pure to approve (or to look upon) evil” (Habakkuk 1:13). When God poured the sin of the world on Jesus, the Father turned away from the Son, broke eternal fellowship with Him, and left Jesus alone to suffer the horrors of hell. The physical darkness that fell over the earth during those three hours was symbolic of the spiritual darkness that results from divine judgment. Jesus Christ, the perfect, sinless, holy Son of God was literally left hanging between heaven and earth.

That was far beyond anything you or I are capable of comprehending. But we do know the result. Jesus sacrificed His life to deliver us from the grip of Satan, the power of sin, eternal death, and the separation and spiritual darkness of eternal judgment. He saved us from what the Bible calls the second death (eternal death), and made us right with God.

So, before Jesus went to the cross, He instituted the Lord’s Supper. This morning we remember Him. Not with Churchill’s famous quote, “Never in the field of human con-flict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
This morning we remember Jesus with, “Never in the history of humanity have so many owed so much to One!” We need to remember. We must not forget. It is our memorial to Him. Jesus told us, “…do this in remembrance of Me (Luke 22:19b).”

In the passage Ryan read this morning (Matthew 26:17-30), Jesus instituted the Lord’s Sup-per. He commanded us to remember Him whenever we eat of this bread and drink of this cup. The Bible gives us only two ordinances or, as they are sometimes more formally called, sacraments. These are believers’ baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Over the centuries men have added to them. The Roman Catholic Church now names seven sacraments. In their theology the baptism of believers has become the baptism of infants. In the Eucharist the symbols of the bread and the fruit of the vine have become the literal body and blood of Christ. And to those two, Rome has added five more.
• The Sacrament of Confirmation, which is said to strengthen baptismal grace.
• The Sacrament of Penance, which includes sorrow for sin, confession to a priest, forgiveness bestowed by the priest, and then some sort of payment or satisfaction for the sins committed.
• The Sacrament of Anointing the Sick. This became “extreme unction,” or the Sacrament of Last Rites.
• The Sacrament of Holy Orders, which is essentially the ordination of bishops, priests, and deacons.
• The Sacrament of Marriage.

While sorrow for sin, confession before God, anointing the sick, ordination, and marriage are all good things, and all prescribed for us in Scripture, Jesus personally commanded us to observe only two: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He observed both of them and thus instituted baptism and the Lord’s Supper for us. But consider the following…
• Jesus was not confirmed in the faith. He is the One in whom we put our faith.
• Jesus was not sorry for His sin. He had no sin for which to be sorrowful.
• Jesus did not anoint the sick. He healed the sick.
• Jesus was not ordained to the priesthood. He is our Great High priest.
• Jesus did not marry a woman. The church is His wife, a.k.a. the Bride of Christ.

So we baptize believers and we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Think of them this way.
• Believers’ baptism is the ordinance that symbolizes our spiritual birth. (us in Christ)
• Communion is the ordinance that symbolizes our spiritual growth. (Christ in us)

You can’t grow unless you have been born, can you? That’s why many churches do not allow one to partake of the Lord’s Supper unless they have been baptized in water. But real baptism, “dry baptism,” baptism in the Holy Spirit, is the real issue here. All true believers have already been “immersed” in Christ, whether or not they have gone into the water. When you have been immersed in Christ, you have been born again.

Jesus said to Nicodemus…
*John 3:3-5
3 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can-not enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

Jesus was no more referring to literal water here any more than the Apostle Paul was speaking of literal water in Romans 6. The issue in Romans 6 is being completely united to Christ in His death and then subsequently, united to Him in His eternal life.
Romans 6:5
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, cer-tainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.

When we come to saving faith, the Holy Spirit comes down upon us and baptizes us into the Lord Jesus. Thus begins the life-long process of our sanctification, that is, making us holy. In baptism the Holy Spirit fully immerses us in the Person of Jesus Christ. We are not “born again” in water baptism. We are not made holy in water baptism. We are not united to Christ in water baptism. But all those things are symbolized by water baptism.

How many times were you born physically? Only once! How many times were you born spiritually? Only once! Therefore, we are baptized in water only once, because baptism is symbolic of spiritual birth. Ask yourself two questions.
• What did you have to do with your physical birth? Nothing!
• What did you have to do with your spiritual birth? Likewise, nothing!

Now, with all that being established, let’s look at the Lord’s Supper. How many times do you eat and drink? Only once? No, you eat and drink frequently and regularly. So we partake of the Lord’s Supper frequently and regularly. We do so because Communion symbolizes, not spiritual birth, but spiritual growth.

Jesus spoke symbolically about spiritual birth in John 3. In John 6 He spoke symboli-cally about spiritual growth.
*John 6:51-55
51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh.
52 The Jews therefore began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.

Let’s be clear about something here. This passage does not refer directly to the Lord’s Supper. If it did, then everyone who ever took Communion would automatically be saved. Just as being baptized in water does not prove someone is born of the Spirit, nei-ther does partaking in Communion prove someone is growing in the Spirit.

What Jesus is doing here is using a figure of speech. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day,” speaks metaphorically of feeding on Jesus, of consuming Him. We go to Him for spiritual food and drink.

Without physical food you will become physically malnourished. In like manner, with-out spiritual food (communion with Christ), you will become spiritually malnourished. It is for this reason that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, again and again.

We understand that eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking His blood in John 6:51-55 is a metaphor. There is truth here to be sure. But the question is in what sense is there truth? This has been debated for two thousand years. Jesus is certainly with us in Communion, but how is He with us? There are essentially four different views.

1. The first is the Roman Catholic view called “transubstantiation.” This says that even though the bread looks, smells, and tastes like bread, and even though the wine or juice looks, smells, and tastes like wine or juice, they are really the flesh and blood of Jesus. Whether the one who eats and drinks is a believer or not, he or she is receiving Jesus.

The problem with this view is that it requires Jesus’ physical presence. It requires His body and blood to be here with us on earth every time someone celebrates the Lord’s Supper. This is categorically untrue for two very important reasons.

First, transubstantiation is untrue because Scripture tells us that Jesus is physically in heaven. He’s here with us today, not physically but spiritually, in the person of His Holy Spirit. Jesus made it clear He was returning the place from where He had come. Jesus is in heaven. If Jesus’ body is still here on earth, the Second Coming makes no sense. He can’t come back if He’s already here.

Second, the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation is untrue because, they claim that the bread and the wine (or juice) actually become Jesus’ body and shed blood. But this isn’t possible. The Bible teaches that Jesus gave His life once and only once. It teaches that Jesus shed His blood once and only once.
*Hebrews 10:10-14
10 …we have been sanctified (made holy) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;
12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.
14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

These things can never be repeated. A modern day priest has no more authority or ability to call Jesus down from heaven and/or transform bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood than you or I have to save our own souls. The Roman Catholic doctrine of transub-stantiation simply collapses under the weight of Holy Scripture.

2. The second view of the Lord’s Supper is called “consubstantiation.” It is the view held by Lutherans. It says that when Jesus was glorified, His physical body became omnipresent. Unlike transubstantiation, which says Jesus is in the elements physically, consubstantiation says Jesus is in the elements spiritually. It teaches that Jesus is some-how “with, in, or under” the elements. It says that He is present in the elements in the same sense that magnetism is present in a magnet.

The problem with the Lutheran view is not unlike the problem with the Catholic view. It requires Jesus’ glorified body to somehow “coexist” with the elements. But this assumes that Jesus’ glorified body is omnipresent. But it is not. In this age Jesus’ glorified body is limited to being in the presence of God the Father. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is omnipresent. The physical body of Christ is not.

The Holy Spirit is most definitely here. He inhabits God’s children. But Jesus is not.
So Scripture plainly contradicts both the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and Lutheran doctrine of consubstantiation.

3. The third view of the Lord’s Supper is generally known as the Reformed or Calvinistic view. It says that the bread and the cup merely represent the body and blood of Christ.
This view holds that there is one sense in which Jesus Christ is, in fact, present at the Lord’s Supper. He is present at the Lord’s Supper. He is not present in the Lord’s Sup-per. That is to say, the Holy Spirit is present in the Christians who have come to the Lord’s Supper. That is certainly biblically accurate.
Romans 8:9b
9b …if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
1 Corinthians 6:19a
19a …or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God…?

The Reformed or Calvinistic view says that when a Christian partakes of the elements, the Holy Spirit of God uses the symbolism as spiritual food.
Our union with Christ is therefore illustrated and enhanced, and in that, our faith is fed and strengthened. We here at LBC would not disagree with that statement. But there is also a fourth view.

4. The fourth and final view of the Lord’s Supper is often called the Anabaptist view. It sees the Lord’s Supper simply as a memorial involving mere symbols. It denies any bodily presence of Christ at all.

There is truth to be found in both the Calvinistic and Anabaptist views of the Lord’s Sup-per. In many respects they are quite similar. Certainly, neither one is heretical.
• The Calvinist view was right. In Communion the Holy Spirit is present in God’s people. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you… (1 Corinthians 6:19)?”
• The Anabaptist view was right. In Communion we remember Christ and what He did. It is a memorial. Jesus said, “…do this in remembrance of Me (Luke 22:19b).”

We’ve considered the elements, but what about the exam? Turn with me to the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. (It’s an open book test.)
*1 Corinthians 11:23-32
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
25 In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remem-brance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an un-wornthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.
30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Paul tells us, in no uncertain terms, that we need to prepare ourselves before we partake of the elements. This preparation requires us to examine our own hearts to see what we might find there. And when we do so, humbly and honestly, we may well be surprised – even shocked – to see what the Holy Spirit reveals to us.
So it’s time for us to do business with the Lord. This is between you and Him and no one else – not your closest friend, not your parents, not even your spouse. For the next few minutes we need to get alone with Him – one on one. Let Him speak to your heart. Then confess whatever needs to be confessed.
• Don’t stay away if there is sin in your life. Now to be sure, you need to confess that sin. Such confession is a vital and necessary part of your self-examination. But if a Christian stays away from the table because there is sin in his or her life, who would ever come to the table? We all have sin in our lives!
• Don’t stay away if you have doubts. There are times when we all struggle with doubts. The Apostle Thomas had his doubts, but Jesus still invited him to come to the table, and when Thomas confessed his faith, Jesus blessed him.
• Don’t stay away if you are struggling spiritually. Are you burdened with trouble, worry, and strife? Are you fighting a battle that’s sapping your strength and even your desire to go on? You are not alone. Do you recall what Jesus said about that?

Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29 “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.
30 “For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.”

Listen, Christian, your sin is already forgiven. That happened at the cross. So coming to the communion table doesn’t remove the sin. Rather, it removes the guilt of your sin. King David understood this. When he confessed his sins he said, “For I know my trans-gressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight (Psalm 51:3-4).”

Later, regarding the results of his confession. David said, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’; and You did forgive the guilt of my sin (Psalm 32:5).”

The outcome of David’s agreeing with God about his sin and confessing it was that his conscience was freed from the guilt of his sin. It was that guilt that weighed him down and kept him from the beauty of pure worship and joyful fellowship with God.
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III. Conclusion
This is what God will do for you when you examine yourself and see your sin as David saw his. Then your preparation for coming to the Communion table will not be “in an unworthy manner.” “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup (1 Corinthians 11:28).” That is how you prepare to take Communion.

~ Pray ~

“Deacons, come forward…”