Season 4 Podcast 135, In Defense of Christianity, “The Sabbath Day, Part VIII, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy 4, The Sacrament or The Lord’s Supper.”

Season 4 Podcast 135, In Defense of Christianity, “The Sabbath Day, Part VIII, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy 4, The Sacrament or The Lord’s Supper.” One symbol that should be of primary importance in Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy is the Holy Sacrament or The Lord’s Supper. The sacrament is among the holiest ordinances of the church.During Passover, the night before he was betrayed, Christ instituted the Sacrament or the Lord’s supper. In commemoration of that event, each Sabbath, Christians take the sacrament.  The bread is in remembrance of the body of Christ who died for us; the wine is in remembrance of the blood of Christ which was shed for us.  In Hebrews 10 Paul tells us that “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.” To be sanctified means to be cleansed, purified, or made holy through forgiveness of sins.  And that is the purpose of the sacrament, isn’t it, that we may be sanctified through the offering of the body and blood of Jesus Christ by remembering his atoning sacrifice. The purpose of the sacrament is to renew that covenant and to receive that sanctification.  To Paul, the sacrament was serious business.  In 1st Corinthians 11, The Apostle recounts the experience the original Twelve had in the Upper Room:“And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”If we analyze each assertion from the above scripture, we learn the following ten things:1.     And when he had given thanksFirst the Lord gave thanks to his heavenly Father. Christ obviously is giving thanks to God in his name, but since he is speaking, that is strongly implied. We are told to pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Everything must be done by the authority of Christ. At this moment the bread becomes blessed and sanctified. It is set apart for a very special purpose as defined by Paul in the following assertion.2.     He brake the bread.5 RONChrist blessed and sanctified the bread as a whole; therefore, its parts contain the same. He breaks the bread and symbolically gives a token of his body that was broken and sacrificed for us to his twelve apostles. When we partake of the sacrament, we do the same thing as the apostles. The token of his body came with the following commandment.3.     He said Take, eat this is my body.The bread symbolizes the body of Christ that was broken for us. Jesus adds.4.     Which is broken for you.Therefore, when we take the bread of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper we are commanded to remember that his body was broken for us, that he died on the cross for us, and that he was resurrected for us. The word broken is a painful reminder of the persecution he patiently endured, the whipping, the crown of thorns, the sword thrust into his side, the nails in his hands and his feet, the carrying of the cross after he had been badly whipped, and finally his death on the cross.  Christ adds.5.     This do in remembrance of me.