(Ed. note:This is the last of a series of three articles on Matt. 18:20 and the Lord’s Supper. All
three are based on lectures given at Bible Truth Hall, Nassau, Bahamas, April 1995.)

In the first article in this series (July-August 1996 issue), Byron Crosby presented the foundational
truths concerning Matt. 18:20 and its context. In the second article Paul Canner built upon that
foundation and elaborated on the meaning and practical application of each phrase of this verse.
In particular, he discussed the types of assembly meetings that seem to be implied by this verse.
In the present article, we shall consider in greater detail one of those meetings of the assembly,
namely, the Lord’s Supper.

I was asked by the brethren at Bible Truth Hall if I would speak on the Lord’s Supper. I was
thankful for the privilege to do this. As I reviewed this precious subject, so dear to the Lord’s
heart, my own heart was stirred afresh by some of the verses that I studied. My prayer is that the
Lord might stir our hearts also as we look tonight at some of the scriptures that call our attention
to that wonderful privilege that we have each week of remembering the Lord in His death.
Although the Lord’s Supper is also called the breaking of bread meeting, the remembrance feast,
or communion, we will refer to it in the following seven questions as the Lord’s Supper.

1. What is the Lord’s Supper?

2. How important is the Lord’s Supper?

3. When did the Lord institute His Supper?

4. What should our attitude be at the Lord’s Supper?

5. Who is there when we gather together for the Lord’s Supper?

6. What is the purpose of the Lord’s Supper?

7. How often should we keep the Lord’s Supper?

1. What Is the Lord’s Supper?

At the institution of the Lord’s Supper we read these words:"And He took bread, and gave
thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you:this
do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new
testament in my blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:19).

Although the Apostle Paul was not present at the institution of the Lord’s Supper, he wrote:"For
I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same
night in which He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke 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" (1 Cor. 11:23-
26).

What then is the Lord’s Supper? It is a remembrance meeting. We are remembering One who
accomplished something for us in the past. I have a picture on my wall at home. It is a picture of
my mother. As I look at that picture, I remember her and all that she did for me. (It makes me
wish that I could have her back for a while to thank her for all the things that she did for me.) The
Lord has not given us a visual picture of Himself to help us remember Him, but He has given us
that which symbolizes how much He loved us. The Lord has given us the bread and the cup to
remind us of His death for us. The bread reminds us of His body given for us and the cup reminds
us of the blood that He shed on Calvary to redeem us. Both together remind us of all the suffering
and agony that He passed through for us when He bore our sins in His own body on the cross. It
is the desire of the Lord Jesus that we not forget what He did for us, but that everyone redeemed
by His precious blood should remember Him. Remembering Him in His death will cause us to
praise and worship Him more and more.

2. How Important Is the Lord’s Supper?

The importance of the Lord’s Supper is seen in the way that the Holy Spirit leads the Apostle Paul
to speak of it. Although Paul was not present at the institution of the Lord’s Supper, he received
a direct revelation from the Lord for the Church regarding His Supper:" I have received of the
Lord that which also I delivered unto you" (1 Cor. 11:23). This statement shows us the
importance of the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord told the Samaritan woman that the Father seeks worshipers to worship Him "in spirit
and in truth" (John 4:23,24). He is still seeking worshipers. The Lord is not looking so much for
the service of our hands as He is looking for the worship of our hearts. The praise and worship
that arises from our hearts as we remember Him will cause us to go out and serve Him. So as we
think of the Lord’s request, " This do in remembrance of me," let us never give the Lord’s
Supper a secondary place in our walk with the Lord. May those of us who have been remembering
the Lord for many years never let the Lord’s Supper become simply a ritual or something we do
without the heart’s affections being touched. May the Lord’s words reach our hearts so that as we
come together to remember Him in His death for us, we may hear His voice saying to us, " This
do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me."

3. When Did the Lord Institute His Supper?

The Lord instituted His Supper on the very night that He was betrayed by Judas (1 Cor. 11:23).
Have you ever had a close friend who has betrayed you? Here was Judas who had walked with the
Lord Jesus for three years, who knew Him well, who had heard the words of truth that He taught.
Yet he betrayed Him! " Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who did eat of My
bread, has lifted up his heel against me" (Psa. 41:9). Yes, His own familiar friend betrayed
Him!

The Lord Jesus was troubled by that fact. Sorrow filled His heart when He thought of that coming
betrayal. Remember what the Lord said to His disciples in the upper room just before He instituted
the Supper:" One of you will betray me." Yes it was the same night in which He was betrayed
that He said, "This do in remembrance of Me." I believe that this betrayal is mentioned in
connection with the Lord’s Supper so that we might think of the sorrow that filled the heart of the
Lord Jesus at that time. The Lord keenly felt the betrayal by one of His disciples. The fact that
our Lord would ask us to remember Him on the very night in which He was betrayed should
deepen our desire to remember Him. One of our hymns says it so well:

On that same night, Lord Jesus,
When all around Thee joined
To cast its darkest shadow
Across Thy holy mind,
We hear Thy voice, blest Saviour,
"This do, remember Me":
With joyful hearts responding,
We do remember Thee.

4. What Should Be Our Attitude As We Come to the Lord’s Supper?

The very fact that we have come together to remember the Lord in His death for our sins would
cause us to come in an attitude of reverence and godly fear. When we realize that our sins caused
Him to be forsaken of His God and Father, we cannot help but come with a sense of sorrow for
all that He suffered for us. This sorrow would be mingled also with a deep sense of joy with the
realization of His love in giving Himself for us. Sad to say, this attitude was not true of some of
the believers living in Corinth. Some had been coming to the Lord’s Supper in a drunken state (1
Cor. 11:20,21). As a result they were forgetting why they had come together. Notice how the
Holy Spirit through Paul warned them of the consequences of their actions. "Wherefore,
whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily [or in an unworthy
manner] shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and
so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats
and drinks damnation [or judgment] to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body" (1 Cor. 11:29).
The judgment of the Lord had already fallen on some of the Corinthians. This judgment meant
sickness to some and physical death to others (verses 30-32).

The above verses make it very plain that when we eat of that bread and drink of that cup we are
not to do so in an unworthy manner. Remembering the Lord in His death is a solemn and holy
privilege. It is something like a funeral service. When we think of His death we would not be
whispering to someone else about things that happened during the week or thinking about other
things not pertaining to remembering the Lord in His death. A worthy manner is a quiet, reverent,
thoughtful, and thankful attitude.

How can I prepare myself for the Lord’s Supper? We have the answer in the verses already
quoted:" But let a man [this includes both brothers and sisters] examine himself, and so let

him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." We need to examine ourselves before we come
to the Lord’s Supper. Saturday evening or early Lord’s day morning I need to be quiet before the
Lord. I need to allow Him to search my heart and reveal to me sinful actions and thoughts that
have been true of me during the past day or week. There could be thoughts of jealousy, bitterness,
or pride. There might be words I have spoken or actions that I have engaged in that are sinful. I
need to judge these and confess them to the Lord before partaking of the Lord’s Supper. How can
I remember the One who died for my sins when I have unjudged sin in my life? If I do, the Holy
Spirit will be grieved, and as a result my unjudged sin will have the effect of lowering the spiritual
tone of the remembrance meeting.

This self examination is not for the purpose of deciding whether one will remember the Lord in
His death or not. No, that is not the reason for examining ourselves. The examination is for those
already in fellowship. Once one examines himself, there is no question of not partaking: So let
him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." A young brother once came to me before the
breaking of bread and said, "I don’t feel worthy to remember the Lord this morning." We may
not feel worthy and this often is because we have allowed some things to come into our lives that
have broken our communion with the Lord. The Lord knowing this wants us to examine ourselves
and then eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

I would like to quote from two hymns that we often sing at the Lord’s Supper. The two verses
quoted refer beautifully to the attitude that we should have at the Lord’s Supper:

We think of all the darkness
Which round Thy spirit pressed,
Of all those waves and billows
Which rolled across Thy breast.
Oh, there Thy grace unbounded
And perfect love we see;
With joy and sorrow mingling,
We would remember Thee.

I have joy because He died for me, but also sorrow because my sins were what caused Him so
much pain. Here is the second hymn:

O how our inmost hearts do move,
While gazing on that cross;
The death of the Incarnate Love!
What shame, what grief, what joy we prove,
That He should die for us!

5. Who Is Present When We Come Together for the Lord’s Supper?

The answer to that question is found in Matt. 18:20:"For where two or three are gathered together

in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." What a promise that is! If we are gathered unto
His Name He Himself (think of it!) is in our midst. Do we show by our actions that we believe
this? If we really believe this wouldn’t we always try to be there … and on time? Or perhaps even
a little early? How easy it is for us to be forgetful of His promise to be in our midst. We need to
remind ourselves of the precious reality of His presence in our midst. When we gather together
to observe the Lord’s Supper we are going to remember Him!

6. What Is the Purpose of the Lord’s Supper?

The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to remember the Lord in His death. Every time we gather to
remember the Lord, we announce His death. "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup,
ye do show the Lord’s death till He come" (1 Cor. 11:26). Remembering the Lord in His death
will produce praise and worship of the Father and the Son. The Lord’s Supper has been called a
"praise meeting." Surely that is true. But it is good to be reminded that praise and worship are the
inevitable result of remembering the Lord and not, first of all, the purpose of the Lord’s Supper.
I remember hearing a brother once say, "Sometimes I just don’t feel that I will be able to praise
the Lord the way I should." Well, that is probably true of many of the Lord’s people much of the
time. We cannot produce praise and worship in or of ourselves. Suppose a brother, thinking ahead
to the remembrance meeting, says to himself, "Well I shall probably have to get up and pray or
give thanks for the bread and the cup." That is looking to one’s self for strength to produce praise.
Praise is produced by the Holy Spirit as we meditate upon the sufferings of the Lord. When we
are reminded by the scriptures or the hymns that are sung of what He did for us, the Holy Spirit
produces corresponding worship in our hearts.

There is a hymn that suggests how worship is produced:

When we see Thee as the Victim
Nailed to the accursed tree,
For our guilt and folly stricken,
All our judgment born by thee,
Lord, we own, with hearts adoring,
Thou hast washed us in Thy blood:
Glory, glory everlasting,
Be to Thee, Thou Lamb of God!

The type of hymns to be sung. Let us consider now the type of hymns that the Holy Spirit would
lead a brother to give out in the breaking of bread meeting. We have come together to remember
the Lord in His death. We have not come together to remember our blessings or the experiences
or trials of life. Hymns that focus on our trials, such as "Our Times Are in Thy Hand," or on our
blessings, such as "O Happy Day, That Fixed My Choice on Thee," are not hymns that the Holy
Spirit would normally lead a brother to give out. Hymns that focus instead upon the Lord’s
sufferings and death and our praise of Him are what the Holy Spirit would normally lead one to
give out in the remembrance meeting. Now if a brother does give out a hymn that, perhaps, is not
so suitable, even then we usually can find something in the hymn that will cause us to praise and

worship Him.

Prayer and praise are not gifts. I would like to speak for a moment to some of the younger
brothers. You may perhaps think that you cannot pray as well as others and therefore you are
afraid to get up and thank the Lord. But remember, prayer and praise are not a gift. The prayer
does not have to be long. It can be a very short prayer just thanking the Lord for dying for our
sins on Calvary. Prayer and praise are just the overflow of the heart to the Lord for what He is
and for what He has done.

7. How Often Should We Keep the Lord’s Supper?

What does the Bible say? " For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup." The earliest
disciples met daily for this purpose (Acts 2:46). Later they met on the first day of the week (Acts
20:7). Should it be less than once a week? The Lord has graciously opened the door in most
countries for believers to gather together on Sunday. Most believers also have this day off from
their employment. So we can thank and praise our God and Father that the way is open for most
of us to keep the Lord’s Supper once a week. If we were to remember the Lord less often than
once a week would we not be robbing Him of the praise and worship that He so much deserves?
It would become easier and easier to forget all that He has done for us.

Let us notice something about the first day of the week as it is mentioned to us in Acts 20. Paul
stopped at Troas on his way back to Jerusalem and we read:"We sailed away from Philippi after
the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days, where we abode seven
days" (Acts 20:6). It seems that Paul wanted to be there for the remembrance meeting. " And upon
the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto
them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight" (verse 7). Does
this account not remind us that we should make every effort to be somewhere on the Lord’s day
where we can remember the Lord in His death with His own people? Even when we are traveling,
perhaps on vacation, if it is at all possible we should try to plan our trip in such a way that we can
be near an assembly on the Lord’s day. It is one way we can encourage one another and also bring
refreshment to the heart of the Lord. May the Lord Jesus give us increasingly to value the
remembrance of Himself until He comes again. The words of the following hymn suggest to us
the attitude of the believer’s heart regarding the Lord’s Supper:

According to Thy gracious Word,
In deep humility,
This will I do, my dying Lord,
I will remember Thee.

Thy body, given for my sake,
My bread from heaven shall be;
Thy blood my peace, this cup I take,
And thus remember Thee.

Gethsemane can I forget?

Or there Thy sorrow see,
Thine agony and bloody sweat,
And not remember Thee?

When to the cross I turn mine eyes,
And rest on Calvary,
O Lamb of God, blest Sacrifice,
I must remember Thee!

Remember Thee, and all Thy pains,
And all Thy love to me?
Yea, while a breath, a pulse remains,
I will remember Thee!