Celebrating In The Lord’s Way

Issues2 – April 2020 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Celebrating In The Lord’s Way

People celebrate Christmas and Easter with music, fellowship and the giving of gifts. These holidays are meant to recognize the birth of the Lord Jesus and His death and resurrection.

Instead of what man does, the Lord ordained only one ritual: variously called the “breaking of bread,” “communion,” the “Lord’s Supper,” and the “Eucharist.” A relevant Scripture is Luke 22:19-20, which says, “He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’ And likewise the cup” (ESV). Matthew 26:26-28 and Mark 14:22-24 are similar. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul added, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). The celebration of Christ’s birth and His death and resurrection is implied in these Scriptures.

Celebrate His Birth
At Christmas many celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Eternal Son of God, the Word (logos, Jn. 1:1) miraculously became a human baby and then grew to manhood. Scripture simply says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (v.14).

God had determined that the birth of the Lord Jesus would take place in the following way: Mary was betrothed (legally pledged to be married) to Joseph, but “before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 1:18). “This took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet” (v.22): “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son” (Isa. 7:14). Also, the angel Gabriel had told Mary that she would conceive and bear a son, and she naturally asked, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Lk. 1:34).

She was given no other explanation than “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (v.35). She accepted this statement with no further question or speculation, and so should we. They called His name Jesus, as they were told to do, and Scripture explains why, along with the meaning of the name: “for He will save His people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21).

For us to be saved from our sins, the penalty for them had to be paid. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23), and our Lord Jesus Christ paid it when He tasted “death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9). God the Father could not die, but He could and did prepare (10:5) a human body for the Eternal Son in which the Son did die. He “bore our sins in His body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24).

When we partake of the bread, which symbolizes His body, it is “a participation in the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 10:16) by us believers. We are symbolizing Christ’s incarnation; we are celebrating “Christmas”!

Celebrate His Death And Resurrection
At Easter time people celebrate the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He “died for our sins” (15:3), He “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25), and “we have now been justified by His blood” (5:9). By participating in the wine of the cup, we who believe symbolize our “sharing in the blood of Christ” (1 Cor. 10:16 NASB) and in the justification produced by that blood.

We are to do this celebration of His resurrection and look for His promised return: “until He comes” (11:26 ESV). The disciples saw our Lord go up into heaven, and Scripture says He “will come [again] in the same way ... [that they] saw Him go ... into heaven” (Acts 1:11). This refers to His coming to reign, but He will come in the clouds to take believers to Himself before this (1 Th. 4:13-17). At that time – the rapture – He will raise the dead believers and take them, along with us who are alive, to be forever with Him. “We shall all be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51). We shall also then be like Him and shall “bear the image of the Man of heaven” (v.49).

“Do This In Remembrance of Me”
Participating in the bread and wine is indeed a celebration of His birth, death and resurrection. However, it is not just a celebration of these events, nor is it merely a remembrance of His sufferings. To remember Him, the person, let us think of Him as being:

1. “The image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15).
2. The Creator of all things “in heaven and on earth” (v.16)
3. The One who “is before all things” (v.17).
4. The One whose wisdom produced the forces by which “all things hold together” (v.17).
5. The One in whom “the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (v.19).
6. The One through whom God will “reconcile to Himself all things” (v.20).
7. The One who made peace for us “by the blood of His cross ... in order to present [us] holy and blameless and above reproach before Him” (vv.20,22).

When we think of Him in this way, we worship Him; and when we participate in the bread and wine we celebrate, or proclaim, important aspects and events of the Lord Jesus Christ whether we realize it or not!

By Alan H. Crosby

“Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread.” —Acts 20:7 KJV For Christians, each week must begin with the joyful celebration of the love that has visited them. The verse does not say “worship meeting.” They would worship; but it was their Lord who was before them. The purpose of coming together should be distinctly and simply before our minds. We find refreshment in coming (Ps. 104:15), but to show the Lord’s death (1 Cor. 11:26) has deeper meaning. The remembrance of Christ is more than the strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the body and blood of Christ, although Christ is gracious and meets our needs. When we look at the worship of heaven, it is the simple presence of the Lamb slain that calls out the adoration of the 24 elders (Rev. 5:6). Worship with them was no arranged, premeditated thing, but the pouring out of hearts that could not be restrained in the presence of Him who had redeemed them to God by His blood. Their eyes were on Him, not themselves. “The first day of the week” speaks of resurrection out of death, and gives Him back to us. While we remember His death, we do it in the knowledge of His resurrection and the Lord in our midst. —F. W. Grant, adapted from “Letters On Some Practical Points Connected With The Assembly.”