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The Table of the Lord: When tradition gets in the way

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In looking at our views and teachings on the Lord’s Supper, we need to recognize another outside influence. Besides our U.S. culture, we are also affected by religious culture. The American Restoration movement was not born in a vacuum. It came out of Protestantism which in turn came from Catholicism. Ideally, all of our views came from the Bible and the Bible alone, but that’s just not the case. The fish doesn’t know that he’s wet. It’s hard to see the impact that our environment has on us.

Our assemblies betray us. So much of what we do reflects centuries of church traditions. This in and of itself is not wrong, yet its dangerous to fail to recognize the influence those traditions have had on us. The format of our assemblies, the songs that we sing, the furniture we use, the standardized communion trays… all of these things show an outside influence. Have our views toward the Lord’s Supper remained unaffected? Personally, I think not.

That influence can come from acceptance of what others have done or can come as a reaction to what they’ve done. I think that the Catholic view of the Supper as a reenactment of Christ’s sacrifice has had a strong influence on our making a funeral atmosphere the standard ambience for taking the supper. The view of the Supper as a sacrament has led many to place an emphasis on the act of taking the Supper each week, to the point that many come, take the Supper and leave; we offer Sunday night “make up” communion for those that missed Sunday morning. As for reactions, we can see that the controversies over the elements (are they literally the body and blood of Christ?) have led us to emphasize the symbolic nature of the elements.

Again, I turn to you for help on this point. How do you see us as having been influenced by the beliefs and practices of others concerning the table of the Lord?

The Table of the Lord: When culture gets in the way

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There are some things that get in the way of our efforts to improve our form of taking the Lord’s Supper. One of the big things is our culture. It’s a given that we are going to be influenced by our culture; as Christians we are called to constantly resist that influence.

Here are some cultural things that I see getting in our way:

We’ve lost the concept of table fellowship. In biblical times, there was a real significance to sitting down at a table with someone. Think about how many times in modern society we sit down to eat in a room full of strangers. Restaurants are a fairly new invention and have certainly never been as prevalent as they are now. Some of us eat more meals in restaurants than we do in other settings.

Ancient societies placed great importance on the sharing of a meal. Eating at table with someone placed the two of you in a condition of mutual aid and protection, almost like being family. We see that reflected in Psalm 41:9 — “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” Great importance was placed on who you chose to eat with, which we can see in Jesus’ ministry (how many times was He criticized for eating with the wrong people) and in Peter’s mistake in Galatia (Galatians 2:12).

Even in our homes, we tend to eat our meals and move on, rather than lingering over the table as many cultures do. For many people around the world, the time after the meal is as important or more important than the time during the meal.

We are too time conscious. One anthropologist told of one tribe that called Americans “the people with gods on their wrists.” We make many decisions about what to do and what not to do in our services based on time considerations. Our way of taking the Lord’s Supper is designed more for efficiency than for reverence. Can you imagine if our family dinners had time limits? “Well, we were going to have dessert, but we seem to be short on time, so we’ll save that for next week.” “You know, we would put out butter for the rolls, but we just don’t have time for everyone to use it.”

We distrust spiritual things, preferring rationality. For a people who profess to speak where the Bible speaks, we certainly spend a lot of time calling the bread and the cup “symbols.” And we talk about Jesus being present in our assemblies, yet rarely speak of any real presence of the Lord with us at the table.

Those are a few things that come to mind for me. What other cultural barriers can you see?

The Table of the Lord: The early church breaks bread

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Some of this material is a rerun, but we like leftovers, right? Let’s see what the rest of the New Testament shows us about the church sharing meals.

We see the early church gathering for meals almost immediately after the resurrection. That’s logical of course; they were a community and would naturally eat together. From Acts 2, we can see that they did so on a daily basis. Acts 20 shows us that these common meals were so important that Paul interrupted a hurried trip and waited seven days in Troas just to participate in one. Jude 12 and 2 Peter 2:13 speak of “love feasts” which the church held.

It seems likely that all of these refer to a sharing of the Lord’s Supper. It’s even possible that early Christians took a moment during EVERY meal to remember the death of their Lord. At some point, very early on, this became a Sunday activity (this from church history, not from the Bible).

That’s a quick trip, but it concludes our whirlwind tour of what the Bible says about the table of the Lord. Before going on, let me hit some high points:

  • Worship in the Old Testament was built around a structure of community meals eaten in the presence of the Lord
  • The Lord’s Supper is related to the table of the sacrifice, not the altar
  • The Lord’s Supper was established in the context of the Passover, a meal celebrating God’s redemption of His people
  • At the Lord’s Table, Jesus is present as host and participant with us
  • The Bible never tells us to take the Lord’s Supper with sadness, but with thanksgiving
  • The Lord’s Supper is a communion with Christ and with one another; we cannot “partake” alone
  • The practice of the New Testament church is not set out in a legalistic framework. There almost seems to be a studied ambiguity about the whole topic.

Next I want to look at some non-biblical influences on how we take the Lord’s Supper, before offering some recommendations. Thanks for reading!

The Table of the Lord: “What I also delivered to you”

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This is the point in our study where we would normally take some time to look at 1 Corinthians 11. However, I’ve already dedicated seven, count them, seven posts to 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. Rather than go back over that material, let me summarize each post and let you refer back to them if you want something more in depth:

Are you ready to exegete? In this post I merely introduced the study, mentioning that these verses are the most read verses in our assemblies (particularly 11:23-26). It’s ironic, however, that the context of these verses is almost never mentioned at the time of the reading. (Read more)

What’s the point of 1 Corinthians? Next I looked at the context of the whole book. I see the main point of 1 Corinthians being an appeal for unity. Not all agree that it’s the central idea, but it’s undeniably an important theme, especially in the passage we’re studying. (Read more)

Wait, wait… don’t tell me. Besides stealing the title of one of my favorite radio shows, this post addresses the fact that Paul was dealing with a specific problem, rather than writing a general treatise on the Lord’s Supper. “Paul begins the discussion by saying that they weren’t waiting for one another. He ends the discussion by telling them to wait for one another. What was the problem? They weren’t waiting for one another.” (Read more)

How not to have a common meal. This post studies verses 17-22 of 1 Corinthians 11. “For now, let me point out that Paul, as he often does, deals with a practical problem by getting to the theological root. By acting as they are acting, the Corinthians show that they can’t tell the difference between this special meal and any other meal that they would eat. Paul says, “If you truly understood what the Lord’s Supper is about, you wouldn’t act the way you are acting.” (Read more)

What I also delivered to you. This is the big kahuna, verses 23-26. In this post I focus on the fact that Paul is correcting the “unworthy manner” in which the Corinthians have been taking the Lord’s Supper. “The Lord’s Supper is a fellowship meal, or it is not the Lord’s Supper. When we forget that fact, we are in danger of taking it in an unworthy manner. We do well to hearken back to that fateful night when Jesus started this unbroken chain of remembrance.” (Read more)

Discernment, judgment and the Lord’s Supper. Misunderstandings of 11:27-32 are behind a lot of our funeral attitudes toward the Lord’s Supper. “I’ve been in many settings where parts of this were read before the Lord’s Supper, and I had the feeling that the reader was trying to scare the audience a bit. Who wants to be guilty of the body and blood? Who wants to eat and drink judgment? Who wants to get sick and die?” Admittedly, a lot of our translations have not really helped us understand these verses. A careful study will help us to see that Paul is not calling for individuality in the Lord’s Supper, but the exact opposite. “The Corinthians needed to understand the significance of the Lord’s Supper and needed to remember Jesus’ sacrifice. But their biggest need was discernment, being able to recognize the body of Christ that is the fellowship of believers. They needed to see that taking the Lord’s Supper is not an individual event; it is a corporate meal. It is an act of the body, as a body.” (Read more)

Final thoughts on 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. I wrapped up the study with this last post. Besides pointing out that Paul does not forbid taking the Lord’s Supper in the context of a meal, I tried to tie together the thoughts from this entire section “What we need to take away from this passage is the horizontal nature of the Lord’s Supper. We do not take it in isolation. We take it as a body, in an act of the body. Let’s not get so caught up in other details that we miss the main point of this passage. It’s pretty simple, actually. When you eat, eat together. Wait for one another. Be aware of one another.” (Read more)

All right, I admit, it’s the height of egotism to quote yourself. But I wanted to give 1 Corinthians 11 its due as we examine the Lord’s Supper.

The Table of the Lord: Communion (1 Corinthians 10)

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“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” (1 Corinthians 10:14-22)

For reasons I’ve never really understood, 1 Corinthians 10 is often overlooked in discussions of the Lord’s Supper. Verses 14-22 are one of the most important expositions about the Lord’s Supper that we have. Let’s look at this chapter.

In the first 13 verses, Paul connects the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness with that of the Corinthians. Then, in verses 14 through 22, he connects the Lord’s Table to the table of sacrifices, both pagan and sacred. Paul wants the Corinthians to see that the table is related to the altar, that participation at the table brings fellowship with the sacrifice. Those who participate in the table of the Lord participate in Him (just as those who ate of sacrificed meat participated in the altar). By eating of the Lord’s Supper and becoming one with the Lord, we pledge ourselves to Him and only to Him.

There’s another aspect. Those who eat and drink are united with one another. The emphasis in this passage is communion, common union as my father-in-law used to say. We are joined to Christ, but we are also joined to one another. Taking the Lord’s Supper is not an individual act. It is something we do together, as a body. Paul says much more about this in 1 Corinthians 11. Participating in the Lord’s is a time of connecting with our Lord, but it is also a time of connecting with one another. This is not the time to close our eyes and ignore those around us! It is the time in the service when we should be most aware of those around us. This is communion. Sharing. Fellowship. We don’t have to wait until the potluck to have our fellowship meal. The Lord’s Supper is our true fellowship meal.

The Bible never speaks of taking the Lord’s Supper with sadness. Just as the meals following sacrifices were times of rejoicing, so should be our time at the table of the Lord.