What Jesus Demands of the World - Lesson 3

Demand #4 – Believe in Me 

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. —John 14:1 

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. —John 14:11 

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. —John 12:36 

[ Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” —John 20:27

Our inability makes belief in Jesus necessary. We don’t like starting from the basis of our inability but it is fundamental to salvation. In fact, our threefold salvation is intertwined with our belief. We are saved by faith, being saved by faith, and we believe we will be saved. Jesus is the only way and our insistence on the necessity of salvation by Christ alone can manifest the intolerance of our supposedly tolerant society. 

Piper uses the illustration of a fireman and the way we must trust in order to be saved. Sometimes wrapped up or strapped in all we can do is hold still and trust that we’ll be removed from danger because we can’t help. We have a natural perception of danger in a burning building but we saw in Romans that we need God’s Holy Spirit to convict us and move us for salvation because we don’t naturally have an appropriate fear of God. We don’t understand our position. There is a comedy called Evan Almighty in which “God” (Morgan Freeman) insists that Evan build an ark. Evan figures that he can simply ignore and avoid the call and at one point “God” just appears in the back seat of Evan’s car. Evan starts to scream because of fear and Morgan Freeman says, “Go ahead, let it all out, it is the beginning of wisdom”. That was probably the only scene I’d like to see again. 

We really are faced with the need to believe or perish. It isn’t just a good idea to believe in God it is necessary for eternal life. 

John 3: 16-18, 36  God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. . . . Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:16-18, 36) 

Jesus came to deliver or rescue us not to condemn us. We face our inability and some of us have been unable to accept it. People have developed all sorts of ways to deserve God’s favor. We prefer to earn God’s favor rather than believe in Grace. Some crawl on knees to a religious shrine, some whip their back till it bleeds, some just tithe, some just show up with their wife for church, and some just figure that if they can think of someone worse than them then God will need to accept them and condemn the person they define as “bad”. It is a messed up world we live in but we have a shepherd. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). In other words, Jesus’ death was purposeful. He intentionally laid it down in our place. I was part of a project in Indonesia in which we were introducing sheep to the culture of the folks that had been relocated to Sumatra from Java. They were good gardeners but had no history of being shepherds. They had no framework for understanding what a good shepherd was. The contrast for me between these shepherds and the shepherds of places like France where literally generations had handed down skills from fathers to sons was striking. We don’t understand the analogy very well in our culture either. Once we went to check on the grazing work and the sheep were gone. The shepherd had headed back to the shop for a snack or something and the sheep were headed for points unknown. Sheep don’t do well when left to their own devices. They need constant attention. Indonesian is an especially bad place for sheep. They are stolen frequently and the shepherds we hired really didn’t place their wellbeing at the top of their concerns. We have a different kind of shepherd and He laid down His life for the sheep. 

Isaiah 53:4-6  We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 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. 53:4-6) 

Our atonement or “at one ment” is based on the Cross. He (Jesus) took the punishment we deserved so that we can have eternal life that we did not deserve. You enter in to this relationship by believing in Jesus. He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life” (John 6:47; cf. Luke 8:12). 

Believing in Jesus is not really a vague proposition. It has meaning. First, there is an awareness of certain claims about your condition in sin, your guilt before a righteous God, the sacrificial atonement on the Cross, and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. We have to be aware of the gospel and we need to believe it is true. It is not a blind leap of faith because the Gospel has content. What I mean by that is that we believe that Jesus really lived and that the Cross is not just a symbol but actually was a wooden cross that Christ really died on about 33 AD. This is a historical faith and what happened in the first century matters today. We need to stand on this point. If a real God/man didn’t die on a Cross about 33 AD and raise from the dead 3 days later then we are the most goofy bunch of nuts the world has seen. We need to all find something else to do because this is certainly not as nice a country club as we could form if that is the point. Jesus was not just a good teacher. He can’t just be a good teacher because if He was then He was a lousy teacher. He communicated that He was God. Now I know I’ve had some teachers who had delusions of grandeur but none of them have been so bold as to claim that they were God. Those tares who want a teacher to have a good moral influence on a world full of God’s children who need to be pointed toward a better more fulfilling life … well they need to stay away from Jesus.   

Even when we know the Gospel and believe it to be true we enter into the Kingdom by trusting him as a living person for who he really is. Jesus said “Believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1; cf. Matt. 18:6). Believing in Jesus is more than believing about Jesus and this is where Piper points out that the fireman analogy breaks down. Jesus isn’t just someone or something rescuing us. He is water to be drunk by us, bread to be eaten by us, our Shepherd, our Bridegroom, our treasure, our king, a vine to our branches. We don’t just know about the water we drink it and find our satisfaction in Him. He is bread that gives life and we find our life there. We don’t just know about the water and the bread. We don’t just believe that it is good water and bread. We drink and we eat and we find it to be life for us. We savor and are satisfied with Christ. 

Demand #5 – Love Me 

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.—Matt. 10:37

 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came forth from God.”—John 8:42, RSV

 Jesus is demanding love in these verses and some folks have stumbled so hard on this that they have tried to redefine love. They have looked at agape love and decided that it really wasn’t love in any sense we know. It is true that in agape love the will leads the emotions rather than the emotions leading the will. Agape doesn’t function in the backwards way that our modern society views love. Our society, generally only familiar with eros love, has no natural understanding of a love that isn’t led by various passions. We don’t have a natural understanding of passions being in submission to our being. 

Jesus has a lot of nerve. He commands feelings pretty frequently. As Piper points out Jesus commands that we rejoice in certain circumstances (Matt. 5:12), fear the right person (Luke 12:5), not feel shame over him (Luke 9:26), and that we forgive from the heart (Matt. 18:35). 

We may be too corrupt to experience appropriate emotions but that doesn’t free us from God’s commands to experience appropriate emotions. So when Jesus commands that we love Him with all we have and we don’t, our inability is expressed, our guilt established, and our hearts corruption is revealed. We should feel desperate for a new heart and Jesus promised that we can have a new heart. 

While our love for Him will include respect and admiration we are called deeper than that. He said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37). The love I feel for my dad is not something that is just an act of the will. The love I feel for my children is not just an act of the will. Affection is a tremendous component of this type of love and lasts through hardships and trials. I judge myself for any lack of love I see in these relationships. I’m ashamed when I forget to pray for my children. And yet Jesus demands more than this in my relationship with Him. 

Piper also points out that we can get John 14:15 backwards in our heads. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” So we can slip into thinking that keeping His commandments is loving Him but that isn’t what He said. He said that “if we love Him” then our behavior changes because of this love. First we love and then our love results in various actions that are pleasing to Christ. You will not find it in your fallen nature to love one that you haven’t seen more than those who you have seen and loved on earth. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to do this in our heart, our new heart, so that we can be pleasing in Christ’s sight. Jesus said, “If God were your Father, you would love me” (John 8:42). Now you’ve got to stop hearing this verse with this century’s ears. In Jesus day, this was a radical statement. I’ve heard it said that it was 400 years before another Jew would think of God as Father. I was working with a person once and we were writing something and they wanted it to apply to everyone so they said, “We’ve got to make it clear that this applies to all God’s children.” I knew what they meant but they wanted it to apply to all God’s children as well as the children of men. You were not God’s child before your salvation. You were lost and without hope. You were not the Sons of God; you were not a people set aside for God; you were by nature the children of wrath. I am sorry! It is not a popular topic in this seeker sensitive age. So to the first century listeners, Jesus is saying that if they were something they would consider blasphemous to claim (and it would have been false if they claimed it) then they would love Him. They needed to be born again. You must be born again. And Scripture teaches us that “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, [Jesus] gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). You must pursue the process of Sanctification and cooperate with God to see these things happening in your life. All those means of Grace that we’ve discussed and especially prayer and personal Bible study are keys to your growth. If this command shows your inability then you know where to find ability. 

I still remember when I was a teenager reading the story of Jesus having dinner with a Pharisee, who really didn’t love for Jesus but obviously had to have Him over to dinner. While they were “reclining at table” (they ate at low tables), a prostitute entered and poured ointment—mingled with her tears—on Jesus’ bare feet and wiped his feet with her hair. You can imagine that the Pharisee was not pleased that a woman like that got in to his house at all and especially that Jesus didn’t stop her. So Jesus asked a question of the Pharisee: If a moneylender forgave two debtors, one who owed him five thousand dollars and the other fifty, which would love him more? He answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” Jesus agreed, then said, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.” Then Jesus concluded: “She loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:36-48). 

When I was a teen I remember thinking about this verse and wondering at the depth of sin that would result in much love. I wondered what Jesus point was and if He wanted to indicate that you should sin so that you’d love. Fortunately God couldn’t leave me thinking that way and caused me to realize that it is the realization of the depth of your sin and that it didn’t take any less Grace to save me than it did for the person I would classify as the “worst sinner”. I might have been young but I was lost and without hope apart from Christ. We compare our mole hills of righteousness with the Mount Danali of God’s righteous demands stands before us in Scripture. 

We can pray for eyes to see the beauty of Christ in His love for us when we were not lovable. We can glorify God with our satisfaction and love of Him. God can grow this love and stir us up to obey His other commands (John 14:15), to seek our ministry (John 21:15-22), and to desire to see Him honored and blessed (John 14:28; 5:23). Jesus deserves this kind of love. When we don’t feel it then the deficiency is in us and He is the solution. Our worthiness simply means that He has produced in us that which is suitable and fit for His worth (Compare the use of the word “worthy” in the phrase, “Bear fruits worthy of [that is, suitable to] repentance,” Luke 3:8, literal translation.) 

Because Jesus is infinitely worthy to be loved and our love for him is the enjoyment of his glory and presence and care, Jesus’ demand is more Grace (undeserved blessing) poured out on us. 

What Jesus Demands of the World - Lesson 2

Demand #2 - Repent

 

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” —Matt. 4:17

I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. — Luke 5:32

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. —Matt. 12:41

Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. —Luke 13:3, 5 

Jesus began His ministry with a call for repentance. His authority over all creation was the basis for this call. We get caught up in a few problems when we go down the road of WWJD or “What would Jesus Do?” The concept is generally well motivated but Jesus speaks from a position that we can’t and did things that we can’t. He was not just a good example and sometimes He was beyond being an example and stood in the role of redeemer. 

Last week we studied the way in which Jesus confronted the Pharisees and even the disciples. We don’t confront in the same way because we are sinners saved by Grace. We are beggars who have found the Bread of Life and Living Water. We are not the Bread of Life or Living Water but we know Him and as His servants offer the Gospel to the World. We need to keep that in mind and allow it to produce the appropriate heart attitude as we communicate Christ’s demands to the world. The command to repent is something we should communicate with to the world without any air of superiority. When Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” it came from the Son of God, the perfect Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world and it came with all authority. When I say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” it comes from a sinner saved by Grace simply trying to be a servant to the one who sends the message and, except of the Grace of God, I’d be just as lost as any man on earth. See, the problem? We need to always remember the person and work of Christ as we hear and communicate His commands and remember our sinfulness and the nature of our salvation. We can glory only in Christ as we communicate His commands or we’ll start to become Pharisees and we just don’t have the background to even be good Pharisees. 

You can’t make a person repent. I’m sure that the legal system would have institutionalized it if they could but you simply can’t do it. In the movie “Cool Hand Luke” the idea of a forced repentance is played with and there is even a bit of glorying in a refusal to repent. The famous line is, “What we have here is a failure to communicate” and we usually think of the Warden saying that. However, I prefer it when Luke says it because it makes the point of the film. He, Luke, would not repent. Not now, not ever, never. You could kill him but you couldn’t make him repent. So they killed him shortly after he uttered the famous line. In the end with the others remembering him for his sin, is a picture of him that was a fake so it was a lie about sexual sin, and the picture was torn and put back together with the rips forming a picture of a cross. It is not a happy film about repentance but a very truthful film about unrepentant human nature. We glory in our stubbornness and celebrate the stubbornness of those who have gone before us. 

Nothing keeps us from repenting except our desire to continue to be lord of our lives. Luke wouldn’t repent and his only prayers to God were for deliverance from the mess he was in. We don’t naturally turn our lives over to the Lordship of Christ. To repent means to change your mind. We sometimes think it means being sorry about sin or that we are trying to improve ourselves. However, we need to change the way we think, what we value, and what our purpose in living is. It is a radical change in thinking and not simply an incremental improvement in moral behavior. Only by contemplating the perfection of God will we fully understand the depth of repentance that we need in our lives. 

In Luke 3:8 we hear the words, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” Then it gives examples of the fruits: “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise” (Luke 3:11).  Repentance is the inward change and the fruit shows up in actions. We are saved by faith alone but faith without works is dead (not really a living faith). Just like faith, true repentance produces fruit in this world. 

Conviction of our sins is a gift of God. When Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32), He wasn’t saying that some folks were righteous but He was saying that conviction of sin and repentance were necessary conditions to hear God’s call. The Pharisees didn’t hear God’s call because they judged themselves to be righteous. Some of us wouldn’t be bold enough to say we were righteous but we would be bold enough to say that we are pretty good people and that people in general are good. When the prodigal son repented he said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:21). The prodigal knew that his offenses were against God in a fundamental way and the nature of sin is rebellion against God, cosmic treason, or as Piper puts it, “an assault on God.” 

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray He taught them (and us) to say, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4). Jesus drew the link for us so that we could see that our sins are against God and an offense to God in the same way that someone sins against us in this world. Sin puts us in debt to God for an offense. To belittle our offense is to forget the price that was paid for our offenses. 

Piper says, “Repenting means experiencing a change of mind so that we can see God as true and beautiful and worthy of all our praise and all our obedience.“ 

People have a natural desire to see cause and effect. Since things go well most of the time, we want to know why bad things happen. We can think when things are going well that God must be pleased with us and that repentance can be put on hold. However, all humans are sinful and have a need to repent. When a group of people came to Jesus with reports of bad things (People killed by Pilate’s massacre and those crushed by the fall of the tower of Siloam (Luke 13:1-4) Jesus warned those who brought the news that “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:5). Everyone needs to repent and everyone needs to be born again. 

When Jesus said “perish” he meant the final judgment of God will condemn those who don’t repent. Jesus said that “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here” (Matt. 12:41). We are responsible for our response to the call for repentance and self righteousness is a strong tower that we can hide in until we perish. If a person refuses then Jesus message is “Woe to you” (Matt. 11:21). 

With the kingdom in your face and Grace being offered as the Gospel is preached, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The Gospel is good news because Christ has arrived to save sinners before the judgment occurs for our sins. Who would refuse the offer? Well stubborn mankind would but the wind of the Holy Spirit will bring life to dead hearts and save sinners.   

Our task is to preach with all humility and joy (in obedience to Christ) that “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47). 

 So Repent. Be changed deep within. Replace everything in your live that dishonors God or steals glory from Christ in your ways of thinking, valuing, and purposing with ways that treasure God and exalt Christ.

Demand #3 – Come to me

 

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.—Matt. 11:28

Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”—John 7:37

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger.”—John 6:35

You refuse to come to me that you may have life.—John 5:40

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out.—John 11:43-44 

I am continually challenged to obey this demand of Christ day by day. I frequently stubble on a “can do” attitude and become distracted with little things that are urgent but not important. God graciously reorients our lives after salvation so that He is supreme but we allow other things to occupy the place of God. 

For some of us even the niche that once held an idol needs to be removed. For example, when Jesus said, “if you eye offends you pluck it out” then He was using hyperbole to tell us that we need to eliminate the source of the problem. When I use the term “niche” I mean the little spot in a wall that is hollowed out so that a statue or idol can occupy the spot. We may get rid of the idol but sometimes we need to remove the idols former resting place. We need to eliminate the culture and practices that led us into sin. So that, as we walk down to the altar with Christ alone seated on the throne we won’t turn aside to a favorite former idol of ours. It could be health, family, job, friends, sports, music, food, sex, hobbies, or retirement. He is to be the only thing we worship and expend our life for. Everything else is to be in submission to Him. That is the process of sanctification in which we are “sanctified” or set aside for a single purpose which is Christ. 

Our lives should show that we savor Christ and find Him to be of supreme worth. This is not supposed to be a burdensome command and Jesus tells us that “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). We do not labor to justify ourselves before God because of our sins. Jesus carried that load for us. He said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). While Jesus will rebuke (strongly rebuke those who persist in sin) us when we pursue sin, we do not see Jesus abusing His authority. He is gentle in His rebuke of disciples when He simply says they are sinners and only strongly rebukes a disciple when the disciple actually is verbally opposing His mission on earth. He is patient with us. I’m still alive so that is plenty of evidence that He is patient. His demands are, in part, His yoke and burden. Christ has a yoke and burden for us but it isn’t hard. The root of understanding why it isn’t hard is to understand that He purchased your salvation on the Cross so that you can walk in a new life. 

We do have issues. We do find this walk hard at times. Jesus said, “The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life” (Matt. 7:14). It isn’t Jesus that makes it hard. Our sin nature that opposes a sacrificial love of Christ and the world at large is opposed to Christ and values things we don’t value. Would a martyr say that Jesus’ burden was light? I think so. I think those under the altar would generally say that Jesus’ burden was light and that dying for Him was an honor. 

Jesus is the one who lifts our burdens, satisfies our souls, and gives life. Those who hate Christ and would kill my body can’t really take my life. Those in the world that hate Christ are spiritually dead, are to be pitied and prayed for, and can’t really keep life. One martyr named Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” He is under the altar now waiting for the rest of the martyrs to arrive and I’m sure he would say that Jesus burden was light. 

Jesus demand that we come to Him is a demand that we come and drink because, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink’” (John7:37) because “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). He demands we come to Him because he is, “the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger” (John 6:35). 

We are in desperate need and Christ sustains us. We need Him on a day to day and moment to moment basis. The tragedy of this need is our refusal, apart from a gracious move of the Holy Spirit, to admit our need and come to Him. It was the same in the first century. Jesus cried, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Matt. 23:37) and said “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). 

In Jesus day, as in our day, people don’t come to Christ and submit because they don’t want to come to Christ. Realize that when your heart turned to God it was in response to the Holy Spirit’s move on your heart. “The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light . . . everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light” (John 3:19-20). So we needed that work of God on our heart. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44) and “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father” (John 6:65).  For me, this is one of the greatest encouragements to evangelism that I know of. If I thought that it depended on a stubborn man and my ability to “sell” the Gospel then I would despair is evangelism. How could I pray for a person that rejected the Gospel time after time? What would I pray? Would I pray for a better argument? I guess that would be my only recourse if that were the truth. However, the truth is that God is saving folks. He is drawing people. Drawing is a Greek word with a meaning that is closer to dragging so let’s just say He is dragging people to Christ. He is granting salvation and dragging folks to Christ therefore I can pray for anyone and it doesn’t discourage me to hear them say “no” because I’m only concerned with my Father’s work on earth. 

God can conquer all our suicidal resistance and prepare the Bride of Christ. Lazarus came out when he was called and he was just as dead as those without Christ. Every Sunday, when the invitation starts, begin to pray for resurrections! Pray that God will call names, remove hearts of stone, and put heart of flesh in those who don’t know Him. When we see someone go forward and confess Christ as savior then praise God for a resurrection. You will have seen a miracle. 

For everyone who knows Christ, remember that you must abide in the Vine. This coming to Him isn’t for a moment. Coming to Him is for a lifetime and isn’t a thing to be neglected. Pray that each of us would see the truth and beauty of Christ and desire it more than anything this earth can offer.

 

 

What Jesus Demands of the World - Lesson 1

Since our class is the “Disciple Makers” I think it is especially appropriate for us to study this book by John Piper. I mentioned last week that I had done a small scale version of this study from the Sermon on the Mount. Piper has done an extensive job of categorizing the commands of Jesus and making it easy for us to study them.

Jesus’ last command was “Make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20).

It would be difficult to teach all He commanded but, as Piper points out, teaching us to observe the command rather than to simply know the command raises it to a higher level.  We actually must submit to the discipline of the command to be a disciple. Because of our sin nature our submission or discipleship is a progressive work of God. We don’t want to be drinking milk when we should be eating meat but God also works in each of our lives individually. I’m sure that some of these commands we study will hit home with each of us and challenge us in our walk as we seek obey completely what Jesus has commanded.

Teaching is the means that Jesus ordained for discipleship and the frustration I found in my life was that as I was thinking about Jesus statement that if I love Him that I’ll keep His commandments then I began to notice that I really couldn’t come up with much of a list of His commandments. I decided that wasn’t a good thing because of what Jesus said. In other words, how much do I love Him if I can’t even really list His commands? If I can’t tell you what His commands are then I certainly can’t tell you that I’m obeying them with any confidence.

There is, of course, more to be said and understood like our forgiveness because of the atoning death of Jesus (Mark 10:45) and we respond to the work of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26) by obedience to Christ and prayer will strengthen us (Matt. 6:13).

We pursue these commands, not to be justified before God, but to glorify God. So that we’ll obey the command of Jesus that teaches us to “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt.5:16). This is really important to our study since if you fall into that trap of thinking that you’re becoming justified by obeying the commands then you’ve missed the point.

In essence we must continually be thinking of Jesus commands in relationship to the person and work of Jesus. To have seen Him is to see the Father (John 14:9). Jesus manifests the glory of God and glorifies the Father having accomplished the work God gave him to do (John 17:4). You can’t disconnect what Jesus commands from who Jesus is without falling into error. We simply want to glorify God in our behavior as we let our light shine not fall into some goofy legalistic teaching.

We will continually come back to the person and work of Christ as we study these commands because it is fundamental to understanding what Jesus was telling us to do. Piper said “My method is to reflect on the meaning and motivation of Jesus’ demands as they appear in the New Testament Gospels in the context of his person and work.”  

In our culture and in many popular conceptualizations of what kind of person Jesus was it may seem odd to discuss Jesus having demands. I hope that we can get away from the mistakes of this age in seeing Jesus as a passive nothing. If you teach that Jesus would never demand something of us and is a passive religious teacher of good works then I would think you could hear Paul yelling from heaven but nothing could really disturb the bliss that Paul is in now. However, Acts is given for our instruction and it tells us about Paul’s conversion experience. Jesus often said things that were hard to hear; for example, He calls the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23) children of hell (v. 15), “blind fools” (v. 17), “blind guides” (vv. 16, 24), “hypocrites” (v. 27), “whitewashed tombs” (v. 27), and “brood of vipers” (v. 33). Jesus even said to the disciples “If you . . . who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children . . .” (Matt. 7:11); and to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Mark 8:33); and again to Peter, referring to John’s destiny, “What is that to you? You follow me!” (John 21:22). And especially given our recent study of communion … Jesus said (John 6) “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,” v. 54), John comments that when “many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’ . . . After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him’” (vv. 60, 66).

Since we serve someone who has told us that, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18) we need to bow to Him and His will but His will is wonderful and a blessing to us. There are no demands more pleasant to obey and Augustine said, “Command what you wish, but give what you command.”

Jesus has every right to demand and every right to demand from the whole world. The world will not obey apart from a move of the Holy Spirit but lack of inclination to obey does not free the world from the obligation to obey. Jesus commands us to make disciples of all nations. You can’t accomplish this without the Holy Spirit.  No force works to accomplish His goals except the Holy Spirit. Not only have we not killed to extend His kingdom on the contrary we have died. There are so many martyrs that they are seen beneath the altar in The Revelation (6:9-11) and they are told to wait until the number of martyrs is complete. There are many martyrs being made in our time and I pray we will not forget them in all our blessings.

Piper explains why he ignores the literature on the search of a “historical” Jesus. The primary reason is that the literature is so polluted with human stubbornness and enmity against Scripture that there is little if anything of value to be found. Piper says, “The conviction was growing in me that life is too short and the church is too precious for a minister of the Word to spend his life trying to recreate a conjectured Jesus. There was work to be done—very hard work—to see what is really there in the God-given portrayal of Jesus in the New Testament Gospels.”

In the selection of commands for discussion, Piper recorded all the commands in the Gospels. He included the implied commands like “Blessed are the merciful” since it implies that we should be merciful. He had over 500 then he eliminated duplicates and commands that don’t have relevance to us such as the example of “Pick up your bed and go home” (Mark 2:11), then the categorizing could take place. He then moved from categories to the structure of the chapters.

I pray that this study of the commands of Jesus will confront us which His words and that we’ll seek to obey Him.

Demand #1 - YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN

Jesus answered . . . “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”—John 3:5, 7

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”—John 3:3

Jesus was speaking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus who was an expert in Scripture. So Jesus gave Nicodemus a hard time when he seems baffled by Jesus statement about the need to be born again. Nicodemus takes a literal view and acts like what Jesus said was nonsense. Plenty of Old Testament Scripture pointed toward the need for a spiritual rebirth.

Jesus was probably quoting Ezekiel when He said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). The relevant verse that both Jesus (as author) and Nicodemus (as reader) would have been familiar with is Ezekiel 36:25-27. God says: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. So really it would be reasonable to think that Nicodemus would have meditated on that verse and longed for a new heart and new spirit. Jesus also said “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).

In Scripture flesh is frequently used to refer to our fallen nature. This is a general rule that works pretty well in the New Testament. Jesus talks about a second birth because we are born spiritually dead. That is our natural state or where we live by nature. We are not born with a heart that naturally wants to serve God and please Him. The KJV says that, “the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be” (Romans 8). We live our lives hanging by a thread over the fire and desire to be there rather than in submission to God. Jesus said to the disciple who wanted time off to go home to a funeral to “Leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Luke 9:60). What Jesus was getting at was that the walking around dead had time to bury the physically dead and that the disciple didn’t have time to spare from service in Jesus’ 3-year ministry. We hear this in the old born one, die twice or born twice die once.

The repentance experienced by the prodigal son caused his father to say “This my son was dead, and is alive again” (Luke 15:24). Jesus says that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Because the dead can’t see because they naturally are opposed to the kingdom of God and it appears foolish to them.

As Piper points out, there is a mystery in the salvation experience. It is even more mysterious if you try to figure out what is going on in the midst of a revival. Jesus compares the observation of folks repenting and entering the kingdom to the wind and says, (John 3:8) “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” It is an amazing thing to stand in the middle of revival and watch the wind blow.

No one is exempt from the command that they must be born again. Every person who is saved will need to be born again. You need eyes that see the kingdom and not the spiritually dead eyes of our birth. This is a gift of God that we can pray for in the lives of others. You should have tremendous confidence that God can save anyone. This isn’t moral improvement or a self help process anymore than you’d try moral improvement or self help on a corpse. You’re praying for a resurrection and not a good looking corpse. We must be born again—“not . . . of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

We live in a world that will mostly reject the biblical view of salvation. We live in a culture that wants to make the assumption that all beliefs are valid. Folks act as if you can believe anything you want as long as you are sincere. If you are enlightened, in this view, you affirm all paths as equally valid leading to the same God with God being whoever we want.  So we are squeezed to be “tolerant” and to affirm the valid

Right now tolerance is practiced toward religions as long as no one claims to have “the” truth. When we claim that Jesus is the way the truth and the light and that no one comes to the Father but by Him then we are the subjects of intolerance in the name of tolerance since tolerance means affirmation in the current age.  If we had a tolerant society we wouldn’t see hostility when one group claims to be “right” or more specifically claims that some other view is wrong.

Robert Rothwell has suggested 5 ways to prepare for the culture and age we find ourselves living in.

First, we must make sure that we have a solid grasp on the basics of the Christian faith. The Gospel way of salvation is vastly different than the system found in any other religion, and it runs contrary to the salvation by one’s own good-works mentality to which fallen humanity is inclined.

Second, we need to have a good understanding of those with whom we dialogue. In discussing religious differences it can be easy to mischaracterize the beliefs of those who do not follow Christ. Such mischaracterizations prevent us from accurately critiquing other worldviews and show no respect for the non-Christian (1 Peter 3:15–16).

Third, help the unbeliever question the assumption that religious truth is less absolute than mathematics or science. We don’t say it is alright believe that two plus two equals four while others can believe that two plus two equals five. Why should we approach religious truth any differently?

Fourth, help the religious pluralist see that he does not really believe that all roads lead to heaven. If he did, then he would not express outrage at suicide bombings, human sacrifice, and other such practices that even staunch religious pluralists find abhorrent. One cannot consistently embrace religious pluralism and relativism and at the same time object to any religious belief or practice. 

Fifth, we must love those who in this pluralistic culture do not yet trust Christ. Let us pray for their salvation and preach the Gospel, but may we never see them as nonentities or mere ideas that need refuting. Befriend them. Do good to them. Go the extra mile and understand their concerns, hopes, and fears (1 Peter 2:15). 

Communion

Introduction

We, as Protestants, observe 2 sacraments. This is in contrast to other traditions that have cut back in the last few hundred years to 7 sacraments by adding matrimony, ordination, extreme unction, penance, and confirmation. We have two because we only find 2 in Scripture. We have spent some time on baptism and now we need to discuss the second which is the Lord’s Supper. In contrast to baptism, our observance of communion is supposed to continue throughout our lives. With baptism providing a representation of our justification we have communion giving a representation of our sanctification. Our justification is once for all by the completed work of Christ on the Cross. Our sanctification is a progressive work that we live out before the face of God in fellowship or Communion.

As we begin our study of the Lord’s Supper I have to say that one thing that I find remarkable in works discussing this sacrament and that is the common lack of discussion of the foundation provided by Passover for the Lord’s Supper. Jesus illuminated the elements in the Last Supper but the Godhead had established the meal in Old Testament times. This relationship to Passover is sometimes passed over; for example, Grudem’s Systematic Theology discusses meals in which God has a part of Jewish worship in the Old Testament but doesn’t mention Passover. I’ve wondered about this but I don’t want to spend too much time on it. I’ll just offer three potential “issues” that might have produced this result. First, the Church has had a negative reaction to all things Jewish for about 2000 years. Secondly, some in the Church have had an unhealthy relationship with the Jewish law and fallen into error by teaching obedience to the law for righteousness sake. Thirdly, we have 2000 years of tradition to deal with annd we never get to the original tradition. In any case, I’ll mention aspects of the Passover tradition that reflect spiritual aspects consistent with our observance of the Lord’s Supper.

First, as usual, let’s read the Scriptures that tell us about the Lord’s Supper. We’ll do Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Then I’ll also have some references from John but he stresses the teaching and so it runs from Chapter 13 to 17. It is a little much to read in here for our study but I’d recommend you read that thinking about communion and especially before taking communion.

Matthew 26:17-29

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’ ” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve.  And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Mark 14:12-25

And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Luke 22:7-23

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.  But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. 

John Chapter 13 to 17 are teachings that were likely delivered during the meal and are therefore relevant to the Lord’s Supper.

So from John we find out that Jesus while John and Peter got the meal organized Jesus washed the disciples feet before the meal (John 13:1-17).  The Lord’s Supper is then also the context for our Savior’s teaching that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will be with us (communion; John 14:15-23). The next time you drink the juice think about Jesus teaching that He is the true vine and don’t forget that the Father is the vine dresser (John 15:1-2). God’s pruning action in our lives is to make us bear more fruit but we can only bear fruit when we are in the vine. The next time you take the bread remember that Christ prayed specifically for you (John 17:20) and that He said “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:22-23). What John adds is truly a blessing. It really makes you feel more like you were present at the meal.

There is also 1 Cor. 11:25 that teaches, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” This teaches both a covenant aspect as well as a remembrance aspect to communion. There are also other examples of meals in the presence of God (Ex. 24:9–11; Deut. 14:23, 26) and as Jesus said when He instituted the meal we will have another in heaven.

From Genesis to Revelation, then, God’s aim has been to bring his people into fellowship with himself, and one of the great joys of experiencing that fellowship is the fact that we can eat and drink in the presence of the Lord. It would be healthy for the church today to recapture a more vivid sense of God’s presence at the table of the Lord.

In the context of sexual immorality in the Corinthian Church, Paul says, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Passover is instituted by God in Exodus 12. The ceremony is a remembrance for the deliverance from Egypt. The ceremony also foreshadows the way in which we remembering of our deliverance in communion. Jesus re-signified and illuminated the elements. The lamb disappears (because Christ our lamb was sacrificed once for all) and the wine and bread then became the focus. Modern Passover doesn’t have a lamb. It can’t because the temple is gone now. There is plenty of irony there. You can actually celebrate communion within Passover and some Christians do that. For example, in Passover you do a ritual search of the house leaven and purge the house from leaven before the Passover meal. Leaven is a scriptural picture of sin. In communion, we search our own heart before we partake of the Passover meal (1 Corinthians 11:28). For a little additional irony I mention the following. If you are Jewish then you may get a gentile neighbor to rent a closet in your house and then you may place all of your leavening agents in that closet for the duration of Passover. Pretty funny huh? Well how often have you compartmentalized your sin and kept on taking communion in spite of a knowledge that you needed to repent from your disobedience or lack of obedience towards God?

Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 

We need to be reminded that our walk is a constant walk of faith and with its basis in the work of Christ. We began in faith and we walk in faith as a result of the work of God in our lives. Communion is a way in which we are reminded repeatedly that we are helpless apart from the work of Christ.

In Communion we show Christ’s death (1 Cor. 11:26), we claim the benefits of discipleship by obeying the command of Christ to the disciple’s to eat (Matt. 26:26), we are claiming spiritual nourishment and claiming that apart from communion with Him we will experience spiritual starvation (John 6:53–57), and we are claiming a membership or oneness within the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:17).

All of these things and more can be part of our meditation when we take communion. For example, the love Christ has for us, the promises of Christ in our salvation, the living faith birthed in my heart by the Holy Spirit. So this combination of happy things and sad things are combined in a meditation for communion.

The nature of Christ’s presence in Communion is a topic of great discussion and argument. Some in the Baptist tradition have argued that there is no presence. Many have at least argued that there is not extraordinary presence just the ordinary presence we expect when we gather together. There have been some who quit using the word sacrament and started saying ordinance to distance themselves principally from the Roman Catholic version of the story. So when you see someone picking one synonym over another in an argument you’ve got to figure that something is going on underneath.

You can find plenty of Baptists who would give a “no presence” argument today and while it may be a common response I don’t think it is so common as to be necessary. I think it represents an overreaction to the Roman Catholic teaching. My interpretation is consistent with Grudem’s as far as I can tell and it seems Grudem is consistent with Calvin and differs from Luther and very much differs from the Roman Catholic version of Christ’s presence in communion.

To be consistent with Scripture it is necessary to be sure that we examine ourselves and then make sure that we discern the Lord’s body in communion. The Scripture reference in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32. 

1 Corinthians 11:27-32 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 

So we must discern the body to be in accord with Scripture. It is that discerning of the presence of Christ in Communion that is required of us and that varies so widely among denominations. The reason I have a problem with a view that teaches communion purely as a memorial or sign is because this scripture and the words of Christ, in my opinion teach otherwise.

How Is Christ Present in the Lord’s Supper?

The Roman Catholic View: Transubstantiation.

For us as Baptists this is considered an extreme view because the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ. This is supposed to happen when the priest (and it must be a priest) raises the bread and says, “This is my body” during the celebration of the Roman Catholic mass.

At this point, they believe that grace is transferred to those present “ex opere operato” that is, “by the work being worked” but they do say that your disposition affects the amount of grace you receive. Every time that they celebrate communion they are supposed to believe that the sacrifice of Christ is repeated and that this is a real sacrifice (but not the same as the sacrifice that Christ paid on the cross).

So Ludwig Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma teaches as follows:

Christ becomes present in the Sacrament of the Altar by the transformation of the whole substance of the bread into His Body and of the whole substance of the wine into His Blood....This transformation is called Transubstantiation. (p. 379)

The power of consecration resides in a validly consecrated priest only. (p. 397)

The Worship of Adoration (Latria) must be given to Christ present in the Eucharist....It follows from the wholeness and permanence of the Real Presence that the absolute worship of adoration (Cultus Latriae) is due to Christ present in the Eucharist. (p. 387)

Communion under two forms is not necessary for any individual member of the Faithful, either by reason of Divine precept or as a means of salvation....The reason is that Christ is whole and entire under each species....The abolition of the reception from the chalice in the Middle Ages (12th and 13th centuries) was enjoined for practical reasons, particularly danger of profanation of the Sacrament. (p. 397)

The Holy Mass is a true and proper Sacrifice. (p. 402)

In the Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Sacrifice of the Cross the Sacrificial Gift and the Primary Sacrificing Priest are identical; only the nature and mode of the offering are different....The Sacrificial Gift is the Body and Blood of Christ....The Primary Sacrificing Priest is Jesus Christ, who utilizes the human priest as His servant and representative and fulfills the consecration through him. According to the Thomistic view, in every Mass Christ also performs an actual immediate sacrificial activity which, however, must not be conceived as a totality of many successive acts but as one single uninterrupted sacrificial act of the Transfigured Christ.

The purpose of the Sacrifice is the same in the Sacrifice of the Mass as in the Sacrifice of the Cross; primarily the glorification of God, secondarily atonement, thanksgiving and appeal. (p. 408)

As a propitiatory sacrifice...the Sacrifice of the Mass effects the remission of sins and the punishment for sins; as a sacrifice of appeal...it brings about the conferring of supernatural and natural gifts. The Eucharistic Sacrifice of propitiation can, as the Council of Trent expressly asserted, be offered, not merely for the living, but also for the poor souls in Purgatory. (pp. 412–13) 

Generally we reject pretty much this entire teaching. While we may believe that Christ is present spiritually in communion. It is communion and not sacrifice for us. We believe that Christ was sacrificed once not perpetually. We believe that atonement was complete and our justification is accomplished. This a part of the general confusion of justification and sanctification in Roman Catholic teaching that has made the guilt and angst of Roman Catholics a standard literature and movie topic. They continually struggle with a lack of forgiveness and feel a need for additional acts to achieve adequate forgiveness even to the point of creating a doctrine of purgatory. In spite of Christ’s proclamation that “it is finished” regarding His work on the Cross (John 19:30) in this view forgiveness for sin is never finished. 

I’d say that I would not suggest participation in a Roman Catholic communion service. Now of course since I reject their teaching as either goofy or blasphemous depending on how much of it they accept I’m actually considered to be excommunicated and they would not give me communion. The following is from the Council of Trent (1545 to 1563): 

“If anyone denies that in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore the whole Christ are truly, really and substantially contained, but says the he is in it only as a in a sign or figure or by his power, let him be anathema.” Neuner and Dupuis, 2000, The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Statements of the Catholic Church 

So you can tell from what I said about their doctrine that they should not be happy with me in the congregation anyway and certainly would avoid giving me communion if they were aware of the facts. Even so … I’ve been invited before and it really does depend on the degree to which official teaching is ignored. 

I wanted to pause for a little reminder on why we are studying the fundamentals of baptism and communion. One of the primary reasons is that God commands us to worship Him in these ways and therefore, in order to obey Him, we need to understand what we are doing and not slop through these issues. We only have 2 sacraments (or ordinances) so it isn’t a long list that we need to deal with. One of the greatest insults to our natural lazy nature is God’s command that you should; “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2 Ti 2:15). We need to be able to answer that in the affirmative without arguing with others (2 Tim 2:14) and without letting false doctrine pass (2 Tim 2:16). This is ground we need to walk through to be obedient to God. As long as you can tell God that you have done your best to present yourself to Him as an approved worker who isn’t ashamed of his work in handling the word of truth then you have done what God has told you to do. If, on the other hand, you don’t want to think about the doctrines associated with the Gospel (the context of the command) to the degree you are able, then you are blowing off a command of God. That is the end of the public service announcement. 

The Lutheran View: Consubstantiation

Martin Luther moved away from the Roman Catholic view of the Lord’s Supper but he still insisted that the phrase “This is my body” had to be taken as a literal statement in some way. He ended up saying that Christ is present “in, with, and under” the bread of the Lord’s Supper like a sponge holding water. 

One passage that may be thought to give support to this position is 1 Corinthians 10:16, “The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” We would say yes but that doesn’t mean physical body but rather the spiritual body of Christ. Martin never got to that point and his teaching continues to be a portion of Lutheran Doctrine. The teaching of the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) is violated by both the Roman Catholic and Lutheran teaching. The teaching is that Christ has two complete perfect and entire natures (human and divine) without mixture, confusion, or separation. So you can’t have Christ’s physical body in two places at once because that would confuse character of his divinity with his human nature. Luther taught that Christ’s human nature became ubiquitous after the resurrection but he didn’t find that in scripture. It looks like he just needed it to be true to keep teaching what he was teaching.

We would say Jesus was speaking of a spiritual reality but not a physical reality when He said that it was His body. Chalcedon cuts both ways though and prevents, in my opinion, a purely memorial view of the Lord’s Supper. 

Most other Protestants: A Symbolic and Spiritual Presence of Christ.

Most other denominations say that the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper did not change into the body and blood of Christ nor did they somehow contain the body and blood of Christ. So within some variation in interpretation most say that Christ is spiritually present in the Sacrament.

The important point to remember is that we “establish such a presence of Christ in the Supper as may neither fasten him to the element of bread, nor enclose him in bread, nor circumscribe him in any way (all which things, it is clear, detract from his heavenly glory).” (Calvin, Institutes 4.17.19; p. 1381)

Most of us would say that Christ is spiritually present in a special way as we take Communion. A famous Georgian named Flannery O’Conner (who was a Roman Catholic) had a particularly negative response to the suggestion that nothing really happens in Communion. While I don’t agree with her interpretation I do find it frustrating to hear some people try to take all of Christ out of Communion. To remove Christ from communion is inherently contradictory may be one of the reasons that many churches just see Communion as a logistical problem to be faced as infrequently as possible.

 Who Should Participate in the Lord’s Supper?

Generally only those who are baptized believers can participate. That makes since given the meaning of the sacrament. We also need to repeatedly warn people to examine themselves prior to taking communion “For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor. 11:29–30). In this connection, Jesus’ teaching about coming to worship in general should also be mentioned: So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matt. 5:23–24)

Many would not want to restrict it to baptized believers because we don’t believe that someone is not a member of the Church. Remember that physical baptism represents a spiritual reality and that spiritual reality is what qualifies for communion. That would not be a common problem and I really don’t recall someone in that situation. 

Scripture doesn’t give restrictions for who can serve Communion and it doesn’t give instruction on frequency.