The Lord's Supper and Prayer: Two Tools for Building the Church

Introduction

Takashi Kondo, pastor of Hamadera Bible Church (Japan), continues his series "The Believer Who Lives as an Architect." Jesus, the master builder, is still building his Church, and he has placed his people on his building site with a carpenter's tools. The pastor finds these tools in Acts 2:42: "They continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer."

The week before, he had presented the first two: the apostles' teaching and fellowship. This fifth message is about the other two, the ones the three thousand new disciples of Pentecost devoted themselves to from the very first day: the breaking of bread, meaning the Lord's Supper, and prayer.

He opens with an honest question: if someone asked you after the service what is essential to the Church, what would you answer? The Word, worship, prayer, fellowship. And the Lord's Supper? Some may see it as an "extra," not on the same level as the Word or worship. The pastor reminds us that the Church has held on to it firmly since its birth.

Message Outline

1. The Lord's Supper, to remember the death of Jesus

• In 1 Corinthians 11:23-25, Paul passes on what he received from the Lord. After breaking the bread, Jesus says: "Do this in memory of me." After the cup, he says it again. The Lord insists twice.
• To remember does not mean to think, "Oh yes, that happened." For the pastor, "to remember is to meditate on this event, reflect on its meaning, and take the fitting attitude toward it."
• He draws on Deuteronomy 8. In verse 2, God asks Israel to remember the whole way they were led during forty years. In verses 17 and 18, he warns them not to say in their heart, "My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth," but to remember the Lord. The same word returns: to remember is to keep something fixed in your heart.
• When the bread is handed out, we remember the body of Jesus, crucified for our sins. When we drink from the cup, we remember his blood poured out. The bread and the cup do not literally become the body and the blood: they are symbols that make us stop, again and again, at the price that was paid.
• This one death brought forgiveness, peace with God, life for those who were dead in their sins, and a new identity in God's family. "Our walk rests on the cross. Without this death, we would have had no hope."
• "It is your sin that nailed the Son of God to the cross. If I live today, it is only by the grace of the Lord."

2. The Lord's Supper, to remember our unity in Jesus

• Some experience the Lord's Supper as a personal moment between themselves and Jesus. There is some truth in that, the pastor admits, but not only that: it is also communion with our brothers and sisters.
• In 1 Corinthians 10:17, Paul writes: "Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf." In those days, one loaf was broken and everyone shared it. "It is not each person stopping by the convenience store to buy the bread they like."
• This is why Paul rebukes the Corinthians so sharply (1 Corinthians 11:18-22). Many believers were slaves and could not leave their work. The better-off arrived early with plenty of food and ate among themselves. The workers, and then the exhausted slaves, arrived late: there was nothing left.
• Some were full, even drunk, while others went hungry. Paul settles the matter: "Therefore when you assemble yourselves together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat." A meal that feeds division is not the Lord's meal in God's eyes.

3. The Lord's Supper, to acknowledge our own sin

• 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 speaks of eating the bread or drinking the cup of the Lord "in an unworthy way" and calls each person to examine himself or herself. These are severe words.
• The pastor points out a nuance: Paul is not speaking of an unworthy person, but of an unworthy manner. What is in question is not our worth, but our attitude.
• Some examine themselves so harshly that they end up crushed and give up the Lord's Supper. Yet if we look within ourselves, we are all unworthy. No one here can say, "I am worthy to share in the body and blood of Christ." We share in it only because we have been justified by grace, through faith.
• To take the Lord's Supper in an unworthy way is to stubbornly refuse to repent and let go of your sin. How can you say "I remember that my sins nailed Jesus to the cross" while holding on in your heart to the sins you love? How can you thank God for peace while nursing bitterness toward others?
• Self-examination is not meant to make you perfect. If you see sin in yourself, remember the cross, confess it, and repent. If there is a conflict with your spouse, a brother or a sister, seek peace and reconciliation, as far as it depends on you, before taking the Lord's Supper. "The Lord's table is the gathering of those who have been forgiven."

4. The Lord's Supper, to remember our future hope

• In verse 26, Paul writes that we proclaim the Lord's death "until he comes." The Lord's Supper is not a funeral for a Jesus who stayed in the tomb: he rose on the third day and he will return.
• In Mark 14:25, Jesus says: "I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew in the Kingdom of God." A time is coming when all who have been saved by the same Jesus will share a joyful meal with the Lord himself.
• Today's Lord's Supper is "the appetizer before the main course." An appetizer does not fill you up: it makes you look forward to what comes next. And it is not a private dinner, it is a meal shared with your brothers and sisters.
• The Lord's Supper looks back to the sacrifice already made, to the unity and forgiveness we have now, and ahead to the hope of the Lord's return. It is not an optional add-on to the Christian life: it is an essential part of the walk Jesus commanded, and a time of joy.

5. Prayer, a Church that prays together

• No one disputes the importance of prayer. Being able to lift our eyes to God at any time and in any place is a great privilege. But do we remember that praying with our brothers and sisters is just as important as praying alone?
• After the ascension, the disciples could have felt alone. What do they do? "All these with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer" (Acts 1:14). About ten days later, the Holy Spirit comes down on those who had gathered to pray, and the Church begins.
• To replace Judas, they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas and Matthias, and they pray: "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men" (Acts 1:24). "We often do something quite different: I have an idea, let's adopt this strategy, let's make this plan."
• In Acts 4, Peter and John are arrested and threatened. Once released, they return to their own people, who lift their voices to God together: "Grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness" (verse 29). The place is shaken, everyone is filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks the word with boldness (verse 31).
• Faced with difficulties, we look for help on the Internet or from this or that person. They prayed first. What set them in motion was not the strength of their will, but the power of prayer.
• The pastor quotes T. W. Hunt and Claude King: despite opposition and rumors, the Church spread from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth before the first century was over. Such an expansion would not have been possible without supernatural power. The vessel of that expansion was the Church, and the power it used was prayer.

6. Praying because without him we can do nothing

• Our prayers sometimes become a simple SOS, a request counter for when a family or health problem strikes. Even those who don't usually think about God pray at such moments.
• Why do you pray? Jesus said it in John 15:5: "Apart from me you can do nothing." Do you believe it as your own reality?
• "A lack of prayer is not a scheduling problem. The problem behind a lack of prayer is the pride of thinking we can make it on our own."
• A baby can do nothing alone: it cries out to its parents. Being saved does not turn us into special people. It has made us know a God on whom we can always lean.
• Keeping the Word, living in fellowship, taking the Lord's Supper: the only way to carry out these responsibilities faithfully is to keep praying. When sinners live together, conflicts come and people get hurt. To endure, we need God's help.
• "I will pray for you" is a good thing, but the Word teaches the importance of gathering to pray. The pastor gives concrete occasions: praying with brothers and sisters after the service, the Wednesday prayer meeting, times with family, a phone call to pray for one another.

7. Tools you don't just hold in your hand

• A tool you merely hold is useless. You can know everything about a hammer or a saw, but you will build nothing without using it.
• It is not about knowing a lot of Scripture, but about loving the Word, obeying it, and keeping it. Not only attending the service, but rejoicing in fellowship. Not only attending the Lord's Supper, but remembering the crucified Lord, giving thanks for unity, repenting, and waiting with hope. Not only praying when a problem arrives, but praying together to remember that we can do nothing without God.
• "Being content to know is like holding the tools without using them." The Lord is still building his Church today, and those who know this joy are placed on the building site.
• The pastor also invites anyone who does not yet believe in Jesus to consider this question for themselves, and to make the joy of following the Lord their own.

Key Takeaways

• The Lord's Supper is not an optional "extra": the Church has held on to it firmly since its birth, on par with the Word, fellowship, and prayer.
• To remember Jesus at the Lord's Supper is to fix in your heart, with gratitude, his body and blood given for us.
• One loaf, one body: a meal that feeds division is not the Lord's meal.
• No one is worthy of the Lord's Supper in themselves. What makes it unworthy is the refusal to let go of sin.
• A lack of prayer comes from the pride of believing we can manage alone. The Church in Acts prayed together, and God used it.

Personal Application

1. Do you see the Lord's Supper as essential, or as an add-on you could do without?
2. At the next Lord's Supper, what exactly do you want to remember: the cross, unity with your brothers and sisters, forgiveness, the Lord's return?
3. Is there a sin you refuse to let go of, or a conflict with someone close to you, a brother or a sister, to settle as far as it depends on you?
4. Does your prayer look like an SOS reserved for emergencies, or like a child's dependence on his father?
5. When could you pray with others this week in a concrete way: after the service, at a prayer meeting, with family, over the phone?

Verses Cited

• Acts 2:40-47
• 1 Corinthians 11:18-29
• Deuteronomy 8:2
• Deuteronomy 8:17-18
• 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
• Mark 14:25
• Acts 1:14
• Acts 1:23-24
• Acts 4:18-31
• John 15:5

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "do this in memory of me" mean?

For Takashi Kondo, to remember is not just to recall a past fact. As in Deuteronomy 8, to remember is to meditate on an event, understand its meaning, and take the fitting attitude: to keep fixed in your heart, with gratitude, what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Who can take the Lord's Supper if no one is worthy?

Paul is not speaking of an unworthy person but of an unworthy manner (1 Corinthians 11:27). If we look within ourselves, no one is worthy. We take the Lord's Supper only because we have been justified by grace, through faith. To take it in an unworthy way is to stubbornly refuse to repent and let go of your sin.

Why pray together and not only alone?

In the book of Acts, the Church prays together at every step: after the ascension, to choose an apostle, in the face of threats. Praying together is a reminder that no one can live the faith alone. The preacher adds that a lack of prayer is not a scheduling problem, but the pride of thinking you can manage by yourself.