True Food and True Drink

We receive spiritual nourishment, comfort, and real, effective grace at the table.

A little under 500 years ago, a pastor was confronted with a tense situation as he descended from the pulpit to administer the Lord’s Supper to the church. A group of men armed with swords, under church discipline for unrepentant sin, demanded to receive the bread and the wine. The preacher, faced with the choice of administering the sacrament to unrepentant sinners or endangering his own life, did not hesitate. He proclaimed, “These hands you may crush, these arms you may lop off, my life you may take, my blood is yours, you may shed it; but you shall never force me to give holy things to the profane, and dishonor the table of my God.”

Contrasting this bold stand and fast-forwarding to our present day, a large evangelical church states on the official “communion” page on their website that, “...communion elements are always available as people leave gatherings each week. Simply grab a communion cup on the way out of the auditorium”. They encourage the taking of the elements whenever people choose, without any oversight. Quite a lot has changed in 500 years.

What happened? Why has there been such a shift in the practice of communion in God’s church? One large aspect of this is a matter of understanding. We do not understand the purpose of the table, the joy of it, and the nourishment we receive from our Lord. And what we do not understand, we cannot value. And what we do not value, we do not prioritize and cherish. This article serves to begin the process of widening our understanding of why the Lord’s table is so important.

Do This In Remembrance

On the night when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper to be a regular practice for his church, he said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:24–25).

First, saints need to understand that the table is a time of remembering Christ. Just as Israel was charged to remember all that God had done for them in delivering them out of Egypt and from the destroyer when they took the Passover (Ex. 12:24–27), we are to remember Jesus’ work to deliver us from sin and death into righteousness and life.

At the table, God is reminding us that Christ’s death and resurrection is now ours as well, by grace alone. His body being broken on our behalf means that our sins, deserving of death, have been paid for. His blood was poured out “for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt. 26:28). All of Christ is given to us freely and assures us of eternal life; as he says in the gospel of John, “whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (Jn. 6:54). Eternal glory with the Lord is the guaranteed end destination for the believer. The assurance and joyful expectation of this can and should be cherished as we partake in the Lord’s supper.

Life and Nourishment

However, are there more blessings the Lord desires to pour out on us as we partake? As Christians, we should be reflecting on the good news of the Gospel daily—is there anything that makes the Lord’s supper any different from that practice?

We can answer with a resounding yes. We receive spiritual nourishment, comfort, and real, effective grace at the table. Put simply, partaking in the bread of life and the living water gives us life. Eternal life and, on top of that, abundant life in the present (Jn 10:10).

Jesus says that “whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he will also live because of me” (Jn. 6:56-57). Elsewhere, Christ is described as “the word of life” (1 Jn. 1:1), the one in whom life itself exists (Jn. 1:4), and the origin of life (Col. 1:15–18). Christ is life incarnate - there is no life apart from him, all of true existence comes from him.

Therefore, when we fellowship and commune with our Lord in this feast (1 Cor. 10:16) we are receiving the grace to live as new creatures. Being united to Christ, the author of life, is a huge way we actually begin to live holy, upright, God-glorifying lives as Christians. The table enables us to no longer live in the dead and dark ways we used to, but in the alive and vibrant ways of Jesus. God promises spiritual grace to us when we read the word, pray, or sit under biblical preaching. As Christians, we understand that there are spiritual realities behind these activities—God is at work in our hearts, transforming us more and more into the image of his Son. In a similar way, we can trust God to equip us with spiritual vitality when we partake of the table.

The Westminster Confession of Faith puts this most succinctly when it states that the Lord’s supper is for “... [the believer’s] spiritual nourishment and growth in Him, their further engagement in and to all duties which they owe unto Him; and, to be a bond and pledge of their communion with Him” (WCF 29.1). In other words, the Lord’s supper is not solely a symbol. In it, Christ helps us accomplish what he has commanded of us. Christ gives us the purity of heart to love him instead of the world. Christ imparts upon us new affections that lead to worship and joy. Truly we are receipts of grace at the table.

True Food and True Drink

A good meal leaves us satisfied. It would be inconsistent and odd if a meal was deemed good for us yet did not nourish and energize us. Likewise, Jesus says that “my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink” (Jn. 6:55). Jesus does not give false promises; the meal he offers us, remembering his sacrifice on the cross and being assured of forgiveness and love, is meant to satisfy us.

So as we feast as a body together on a weekly basis, remember that there is life to receive by faith at the table. Ask the Lord to believe the reality that this is not merely a physical act—it is a physical act designed to remind us of spiritual realities. Remind yourself of these realities as you partake of the bread and the wine instead of simply going through the motions. Remind yourself that you are actively receiving assurance of eternal life and the help needed to live the abundant, pleasing, full life that God desires for us in the present. Sin, the evils of the world, our chronic inability to follow the Lord—all that is dark and dead—flee from Christ. So as we join with him in communion, we can be happily assured that is filling us up with life to continue to fight the good fight of faith well. Come hungry and leave satisfied.