The CYpress

In Noah Bailey’s third lecture on the Sacraments, he talked about The Lord’s Supper. In his fourth lecture he talked about, among other things, what it means to discern the Body of Christ. Many of the illustrations and truths that he mentioned I had personally never heard before. They were amazingly instructive and were great to meditate on before Communion. I thought I would quickly outline some of the major points that Pastor Bailey made for those of you who weren’t there, or who didn’t take such prolific notes as I. =)

In The Lord’s Supper, we feast with and upon Jesus Christ. Not only do we feast on His body and blood spiritually, but our Savior is the one who is serving it to us. (1 Cor. 10:16; 11:24-25; Is. 25:6; Gen. 14:18)

The concept of eating someone’s flesh and blood may be repulsive to us, but Pastor Bailey gave us a more appetizing explanation. Since the Covenant with Noah, God’s people were forbidden to eat the blood of any animal because the animal’s blood was its life. (Gen. 9:4; Lev. 17:14) When we partake of Christ’s body and blood broken and shed for us, we are being nourished by the Life of Christ Himself! (John 6:53-56)

Before coming to take Communion, many of us (rightly) feel ashamed of our sin and unworthy to partake lest we bring judgment on ourselves. Pastor Bailey helped shed some light on what to do when you feel as though you do not “discern the Body”. (1 Cor. 11:27-29) “Are you worthy to partake?” He asked us. “No. But yes! I am unworthy, but thank God that Christ makes me worthy!”

To discern the Body of Christ, we must “Affectionately meditate on His Passion”, “Stir up religious fervency”; when we fail, and don’t see fruit we should “Wait. And then partake again- only with greater diligence.” We should also remember that when we participate in Communion, it is the one time, when on this earth, that we are Home. (Ex. 24:9-11)