The Lord’s Supper

TEXT: Matthew 26:17-30; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34

God has instructed the Jews to keep the Passover once a year as a memorial of their exodus from Egypt and bondage. Just prior to His crucifixion, Jesus and His disciples were celebrating this feast. At the close of the Passover Supper, Jesus instituted what we know today as the Lord’s Supper. Though there is no saving grace in the ordinance itself, it depicts the total work of Christ in man’s behalf. The Lord’s Supper symbolizes the death of Jesus for our sins, and our death to sin through Him. It reminds us that Jesus’ death is the means of our righteousness, the union between Jesus and us, and our expectant hope in Christ until He comes.

QUESTIONS

1. Explain what the Passover was and to what it pointed. See Exodus 12:3-14,22.
2. To what does the observance of the Lord’s Supper point?
3. Why did Jesus institute this ordinance? See 1 Corinthians 11:24-26.
4. What did they partake of at the first Lord’s Supper? What did these represent?
5. Who was present at the first Lord’s Supper? Knowing this, explain who is to partake of the Lord’s Supper today.
6. Define what is meant by the word unworthily in 1 Corinthians 11:27. Then explain what it means for a man to examine himself (verse 28).
7. Referring to 1 Corinthians 11:29, explain what you think it means to discern the Lord’s body.
8. Tell of an instance of blessing in your life, or another’s, received while you were participating in this ordinance.