St. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, wrote: “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner, He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” (Cf. Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-23)

For centuries, churches and theologians have argued about the Lord’s Supper and how and when Christians partake of Jesus’ body and blood. Does the substance of the bread and wine change into the body and blood of Jesus? Are the body and blood of Jesus present together with the bread and the wine or in, with, and under the forms of bread and wine? At what point in the Lord’s Supper do Christ’s body and blood become present so that Christians may eat and drink of them? Do the bread and wine merely represent or symbolize the body and blood of Christ in a similar way as the Passover lambs offered under the Old Covenant (Exodus 12) symbolized and pointed ahead to Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)? What about using unfermented grape juice or bread made with yeast? Can one partake of Christ’s body and blood by dipping the bread into the wine? Are individual wafers and cups OK or must there be one loaf and one cup? Yes, the list of questions could go on, and the disputes will likely continue, too.

We could take sides and join in the arguments, which are based in large part on man-made attempts to explain what occurs in the Lord’s Supper, or we could look at the focus of the Supper in the words of our Lord Jesus.

Notice first that Jesus does not explain how participants in the Lord’s Supper partake of His body and blood. He did not say that the bread and wine are changed into His body and blood. He did not say His body and blood are in, with, and under the forms of bread and wine or somehow included together with the bread and the wine. He did not say His body and blood become present when the words of institution are read, the elements are blessed by the pastor or priest, or when those partaking of the Supper receive them with their mouth or consume them. He said nothing about what should be done with leftover elements following the Supper. He did not require announcing one’s intention to partake or using private confession before the Supper. Again, the list of things not mentioned or taught by Jesus could go on.

What does He say? He says of the bread: “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” He says of the cup (which contained wine in the Passover meal): “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Yes, Jesus used the words “this is” of the bread and wine given as His body and His blood, but He used the same words in John 6:33-35 (before the Lord’s Supper was even instituted) when He spoke of Himself as the bread of life, and He used the same words, with the added emphasis of the word “truly,” in John 6:53-58 when He referred to His flesh and His blood as true food and drink that one must partake of to be saved. Jesus’ words in John 6 make clear that He there refers not to the Lord’s Supper but to partaking of Him and His body and blood in faith — to partaking of Him by trusting in Him and His sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world.

It should be noted that Matthew 26:28 says of the cup: “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Likewise, Mark 14:25 says: “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.” Luke 22:20 says: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” The word order is slightly different in the four Lord’s Supper accounts. Yet, in every one of them, Jesus indicates that partaking of the Lord’s Supper is partaking of the new covenant promise of the forgiveness of sins, put in force by the shedding of Jesus’ blood on the cross for the sins of the world (cf. Heb. 8 and 9).

Coming back to the words Jesus spoke when He instituted the Lord’s Supper, words which the Apostle Paul gives us in 1 Corinthians 11, what is the emphasis? What does Jesus clearly command us to do? Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me”; “This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” The Apostle further explains Jesus’ words when he says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” We often argue and fight over questions we can’t answer and forget the purpose of this special Supper, which Christ instituted to strengthen and keep us in the faith. It is to remind us and direct our faith to what Jesus did for us when He suffered and died on the cross!

What, then, are we doing in the Lord’s Supper? We remember that Jesus gave His body into death for our sins when He suffered and died on the cross. We remember that He took the full punishment for our sins. He was offered up as our perfect and holy sacrifice for sin. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6).

We remember that Jesus, by shedding His blood on the cross, put into force a new covenant, a covenant in which God forgives our iniquities and remembers our sins no more (cf. Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:7ff.). We remember that Jesus, the Bread of Life, gave Himself for us that we might partake of His sacrifice in faith and receive the benefits He won for us, the benefits assured to us by His blood, shed to put in place the new covenant of which we become beneficiaries when we place our faith in Christ Jesus and are baptized into His name.

Do St. Paul’s words recorded in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 about communing or sharing in the body and blood of Christ when we partake of the Lord’s Supper teach transubstantiation or some form of “real presence”? No, they speak of partaking of the Lord’s Supper as a way in which believers partake of Christ’s sacrifice in faith (remembering and trusting in His sacrifice for our sins), and they warn against partaking of sacrifices offered to idols.

And what about Paul’s warning against partaking of the Lord’s Supper unworthily, without self-examination, recorded in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32? Do these words demand the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Supper? To say nothing of the respect demanded regarding all the Old Testament sacrifices that merely pointed ahead to Christ, consider the words of Hebrews 10:26-31. If a believer impenitently turning back into willful sin is said to be trampling “the Son of God underfoot” and counting “the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing,” certainly observing the Lord’s Supper without self-examination and remembering the sacrifice Christ made to redeem us makes us guilty of trampling “the Son of God underfoot” and counting “the blood of the covenant by which [we are] sanctified a common thing.” To partake of the Lord’s Supper without a penitent heart and faith in Christ’s sacrifice for mercy is to sin against Christ’s body and blood, given and shed for the remission of our sins.

What’s my point in all this? It’s not to further the arguments but, rather, to redirect our thoughts to what the Lord’s Supper is and should be for believers. Instead of arguing over what is not revealed, let’s focus on what has been revealed (cf. Deut. 29:29): Whenever we partake of the bread and the cup, we are called upon to remember Christ and His perfect sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and we partake of His sacrifice through faith in the promise of God in the new covenant established by Christ’s shed blood: “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer. 31:34).

St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” Thus, the Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of the fact that Christ’s body was put to death in our stead and His blood was shed to atone for our sins; and, indeed, “it is finished” (John 19:30). Our sins were punished in full on the cross of Jesus — His resurrection is proof (cf. Rom. 4:23-25). Therefore, when we partake of Jesus’ sacrifice for sins by faith, our sins are covered by His blood. We have God’s pardon and forgiveness!

The focus of the Lord’s Supper is to remind us and direct our faith and hope to Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world until He comes again. And, through faith in Him and what He accomplished for us, we are given to partake of the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice — forgiveness for all our sins and eternal salvation!

“Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” John 14:5-6

On the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion, He told His disciples that He was going away to prepare a place for them in the mansions of His Father’s house. He promised them that He would come again to take them to be with Him forever in His heavenly kingdom. Jesus told them, “And where I go, you know, and the way you know” (John 14:4; cf. John 14:1-4).

It was then that “Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’”

Jesus replied in the familiar words of John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus told Thomas that He is the way to heaven, He is the truth, and He is the source of life. And He added the words, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

What do Jesus’ words mean? They answer for us a most important question: “How can we obtain eternal life in heaven and not be condemned to the eternal torments of hell in God’s judgment of this evil world?” And Jesus’ answer is very clear.

Jesus is the road or pathway to heaven! His doctrine, His teaching proclaiming Himself as the eternal Son of God and the promised Messiah and Savior of the world, is the truth! And, He is the source of eternal life — He created man in the beginning and gave Him life, physical and spiritual (Gen. 2:7; John 1:1-4), and through faith in Him and His sacrifice on the cross as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29; cf. 3:14-18), He is the source of eternal life today.

And Jesus Himself said He is the only way to be saved: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Only those who look to Jesus and His cross for pardon and forgiveness will be saved and enjoy a place in the mansions of His Father’s house. As the Apostle Peter said of Jesus in Acts 4:12: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for you? The only way to go to heaven, the only source of true doctrine, the way to have life in communion with God the Father and to partake of the eternal joys of heaven is through faith in Jesus and the atoning sacrifice He made for you when He suffered and died on the cross. There is no other way!

Dear Lord Jesus, Son of God, and my only Savior, wash away my sins in Your shed blood, receive me into Your eternal kingdom, and grant me a place in the heavenly mansions of Your Father’s house. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:1-3

Jesus’ disciples were troubled by His words that He was about to leave them and go to a place where they could not yet come (cf. John 13:33, 36). Jesus comforted them by telling them of the many mansions (dwelling places) in the house of His Father in heaven. He told them He was going to prepare a place for them and would come again and take them to be with Him forever in heaven.

To prepare a place for His followers to be with Him in heaven, Jesus had to go to the cross, suffer and die for the sins of the world, and then rise again and ascend to the right hand of God the Father (cf. Luke 24:46-47). From there (this exalted position of power and authority), Jesus rules over and fills all things for the good of His church. He intercedes for believers and leads and guides them by His Spirit (cf. Eph. 1:20-23; Rom. 8:34; John 14:16-18,26). Jesus continues to work for our eternal salvation, and He is preparing a place for us so that we might be with Him forever in the mansions of His Father’s house.

And Jesus will come again and take us to be with Him where He is! When He comes to judge this evil world, He will gather up all who have trusted in Him and His atoning sacrifice on the cross and take them to be with Him forever in heaven!

The Scriptures say: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:16-18).

O dearest Jesus, cleanse away our sins with Your shed blood and prepare us to meet You on that glorious day when You come again to gather Your elect and take them to be with You forever in the mansions of Your Father’s house. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.’ Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.’” John 13:36-38

Jesus had told His disciples that He was going away, speaking of His coming death, resurrection, and ascension, but His disciples did not understand. Peter questioned Jesus about where He was going and why he could not follow Him there now. Peter even told Jesus, “I will lay down my life for Your sake.”

It was then that Jesus revealed the weakness of Peter’s commitment: “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.”

In the Gospel of Matthew (26:35), we read that Peter told Jesus, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”

Of course, we know what happened. As Jesus said, before the rooster crowed, Peter had three times denied being a disciple of Jesus (cf. Matt. 26:69-75; Luke 22:54-62; Mark 14:66-72; John 18:15-18, 25-27).

What do we learn from this? Never say never! It is foolish to put confidence in our fallen sinful flesh. It is safe to say that anyone who places confidence in his or her own human strength or resolve does not know the weakness and corruption of our own human nature. Such might consider the word of God recorded by Jeremiah the prophet in chapter 17, verse 9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”

And yet we think and say, “I would never do that!” Or with Peter, we say, “I would never deny Jesus, even if I had to die for Him!” We foolishly think we would never fall away from the faith!

But look at Peter, a bold disciple of Jesus, the one who confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God (cf. Matt. 16:16). His strength and resolve failed him, and he denied Jesus three times.

But what about you? Have you ever had the opportunity to confess or share your faith in Jesus but shrunk back and said nothing? Have you pretended by your silence not to know Him or be his disciple? And, if you are so confident you will never fall from the faith, consider all the other one-time believers who have fallen away.

Why does Peter himself say (2 Pet. 2:20): “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning”?

And why does God’s Word include the warning of Hebrews 6:4-6: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame”? Why does the apostle John speak of a sin unto death in his first epistle? (Cf. 1 John 5:16; Heb. 10:26ff.)

My point is this: Do not put confidence in your own sinful flesh but trust in the mighty working of God through His Word to both bring You to faith in Christ and His sacrifice on the cross and to preserve You in that faith through the continued hearing and learning of God’s Word. After all, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17), and “It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). And remember that “He who has begun a good work in you [bringing you to know and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and making you a disciple of Jesus] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

O gracious and merciful God, forgive me for the many times I have faltered in my faith and failed to confess Your Son and my Savior, Jesus Christ. Give me the wisdom to continue in Your Word that Your Holy Spirit might strengthen and preserve me in the true and saving faith in Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 (Read John 13:31-35)

Before going to the cross to suffer and die for the sins of all, Jesus sought to prepare His disciples for the next phase of their discipleship — going out into the world and calling all to repentance and faith in Him as their crucified, risen and ascended Lord and Savior!

Their discipleship would be different because Jesus would not be visibly present with them but would ascend to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, a position of power and authority over all things that He might direct the ministry of His disciples and build and preserve His church, as promised in Daniel 2:44, a kingdom established by God that would supersede all the kingdoms of this world and endure forever.

Before returning to the Father, Jesus also gave His disciples a new commandment to guide them in their ministry, a command crucial to building the church: “As I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

How is this new? Jesus had already summarized the law by citing from the Old Testament Scriptures, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37,39; cf. Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18). The difference between these commandments and the new commandment lies in the example of how we should love. Not only are we to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, but we are to love one another as Jesus loves us.

How has Jesus loved us? We see that love explained in Romans 5:6-8: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

In 1 John 4:10-11, we read: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Do you see Jesus’ point? We, as disciples and followers of Jesus, are to emulate Jesus’ sacrificial, patient, and enduring love for us in our dealings with one another. In fact, Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Since the goal of discipleship is to become like our teacher (cf. Luke 6:40; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 4:11-16), our goal is to be more and more like Christ Jesus as we grow in our knowledge of His great love for us, love that moved Him to take our guilt and punishment upon Himself and to die in our stead that we might turn to Him in faith and be pardoned and forgiven and given spiritual and eternal life through faith in His name.

This leads to the question: Do people recognize us as Christians, as followers of Christ, by our love for one another? Do we love one another as Christ has loved us? Do we live for others? Lay down our lives for others? Deal patiently with others? Forgive others? Seek the eternal welfare of others?

Sadly, it seems that Christians are often the worst when it comes to emulating the love of Jesus in their dealings with each other. We are often quick to judge and condemn, impatient, unloving, unforgiving, and self-serving. If Jesus loved us as we love others, He would have given up on us and condemned us to the fires of hell long ago!

How thankful we can be that Jesus’ love for us is far greater than our love for one another, that we are called to emulate Him rather than He to emulate us! Despite our unloving and self-serving nature, Jesus loved us, died in our stead on the cross to pay the just penalty for our sins, and now lovingly and patiently calls us to repent of our unloving ways and trust in Him and His cross for pardon and forgiveness. And He continues to work in us, His disciples, to cleanse us from our unloving ways and make us more and more to emulate His love in our dealings with one another.

Dear Lord Jesus, my loving and merciful Savior, let me see Your selfless love for me so that I might look to You for pardon and forgiveness and emulate Your love in my dealings with others. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]