CCC Gainesville | Blog
In traditions that span the spectrum of Christian song and substance that constitutes corporate worship, you might find a number of common threads that unify rather than distinguish. A Call to Worship that employs scripture to remind us of God’s initiation of corporate worship. A time of corporate confession. Or, a brief prayer or song called the Trisagion, which mirrors quite literally this image of God’s throne room in Revelation 4:
“…and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:6-8 ESV)
In our gatherings on Sundays, we are leveraging the simplicity and richness of Fernando Ortega’s version of the Trisagion throughout the Lenten period. If you are unfamiliar with it, I encourage you to purchase a copy of the track here. You can also preview it for free. See you Sunday.
Men, mention this ad and I’ll buy your joe at THE MILL, or a portion of it. (We’ll talk).
Men’s b’fast 0630 Thursday at The Mill Bakery and Deli, off N’berry Rd near TJ Maxx and Kmart
This week I’m starting a lenten series on the “I am” statements of Jesus in the gospel of John. Sunday we’ll look at
“I am the bread of life.”
My Brothers and Sisters, if we do but get hold of Jesus Christ and feed on Him, He is sufficient for us—sufficient for
gigantic labors, sufficient for anguish, for grief, for sorrow—sufficient for the weakest of the babes for He is the unadulterated milk—sufficient for the full-grown men among us, for He is the strong meat of the Kingdom of God. His flesh is meat, indeed! For your spiritual manhood there is bone, gristle, muscle, brain, everything that you need, in Christ. If you feed on Him, He will build you up, not in one direction only, but in all ways, for you are complete in Him— thoroughly furnished unto all necessities. Christ Jesus meets all the needs of all His people with a Divine sufficiency. –Spurgeon
THE LORD’S SUPPER
THIS RITE EXHIBITS COMMUNION WITH CHRIST
by J.I. Packer
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 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.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-26
The Lord’s Supper is an act of worship taking the form of a ceremonial meal, in which Christ’s servants share bread and wine in memory of their crucified Lord and in celebration of the new covenant relationship with God through Christ’s death.
Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein he was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, called the Lord’s Supper, to be observed in his church, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of himself in his death; the sealing of all benefits thereof unto true believers, their spiritual nourishment and growth in him, their further encouragement in and to all duties which they owe unto him; and, to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other, as members of his mystical body. (Westminster Confession XXIX.1)
The passages dealing with the Supper on which the above statement is based are the four institution narratives (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:17-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-25) and 1 Corinthians 10:16-21; 11:17-34. Jesus’ sermon (John 6:35-58) about himself as the Bread of Life, and the need to feed on him by eating his flesh and drinking his blood, was preached before the Supper existed and is better understood as being about what the Supper signifies (i.e., communion with Christ by faith) than about the Supper itself.
At the time of the Reformation, questions about the nature of Christ’s presence in the Supper and the relation of the rite to his atoning death were centers of stormy controversy. On the first question, the Roman Catholic church affirmed (as it still affirms) transubstantiation, defined by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. Transubstantiation means that the substance of the bread and wine are miraculously transformed into the substance of Christ’s body and blood so that they are no longer bread and wine, though they appear to be. Luther modified this, affirming what was later called “consubstantiation” (a term that Luther did not favor), namely, that Christ’s body and blood come to be present in, with, and under the form of the bread and wine, which thus become more than bread and wine though not less. The Eastern Orthodox churches and some Anglicans say much the same. Zwingli denied that the glorified Christ, now in heaven, is present in any way that the words bodily, physically, or locally would fit. Calvin held that though the bread and wine remained unchanged (he agreed with Zwingli that the is of “this is my body… my blood” means “represents,” not “constitutes”), Christ through the Spirit grants worshippers true enjoyment of his personal presence, drawing them into fellowship with himself in heaven (Heb. 12:22-24) in a way that is glorious and very real, though indescribable.
On the second question, all the Reformers insisted that at the table we give thanks to Christ for his finished and accepted work of atonement, rather than repeat, renew, reoffer, re-present, or reactivate it, as the Roman Catholic doctrine of the mass affirms.
The prescribed ritual of the Supper has three levels of meaning for participants. First, it has a past reference to Christ’s death which we remember. Second, it has a present reference to our corporate feeding on him by faith, with implications for how we treat our fellow believers (1 Cor. 11:20-22). Third, it has a future reference as we look ahead to Christ’s return and are encouraged by the thought of it. Preliminary self-examination, to make sure one’s frame of mind is as it should be, is advised (1 Cor. 11:28), and the wisdom of the advice is obvious.
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From: Concise Theology: A Guide To Historic Christian Beliefs
