The Ordinances of the Church - Part 1 (The Lord's Supper)

The Doctrine of the Week for this Sunday is the Lord's Supper, or Communion, as it's often called.

So as evangelicals, we believe the Lord gave two ordinances to the local church, baptism and the

Lord's Supper. We will cover baptism next time, but first, what is an ordinance?

It's basically an order. This is an order what Jesus told his church to do.

In Luke 22, 19, it says that Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, this is my body, which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. Now, historically, there have been three primary ways to view or interpret the

Lord's Supper. Many Protestants believe that the Lord is spiritually present in the elements of bread and wine.

This view is called consubstantiation. Catholics believe in what is called transubstantiation, that the priest has the miraculous power to change the bread and wine into literal flesh and blood, the literal flesh and blood of Christ.

Therefore, each mass, they say, is a re -sacrifice of Jesus on a

Roman altar. But as evangelicals, we hold to what is called the memorial view of the

Lord's Supper. The term memorial simply means what? It's a reminder.

It's a memory. Jesus, after all, said, do this in memory of me or in remembrance of me.

So in conclusion, in the Lord's Supper, the gospel is proclaimed. The bread represents

Christ's body. The cup represents his blood that was shed on the cross for our sins.

And even the resurrection is implied since 1 Corinthians 11, 26, the

Apostle Paul says this, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the