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We come to the final devotion in this series. When we began, it was not clear how we would be
able to match the previous topics we have covered by developing 52 reasons to take the Lord's
Supper and to do so frequently. In practice, though, we have had to prune some entries as time
has progressed in order to arrive at only 52 meditations! This is probably not an outcome that
would have surprised Charles Spurgeon, judging from the words of the hymn he wrote on the
subject (see above).
As with all the other means of grace, we have seen that the Lord supplied this one for the good of
His children, with their best interests at heart. He knows us through and through, and He knows
what is good for us, and the Lord's Supper is designed with that in view. Since we are slow of
heart to believe, though, the Lord also commands us to participate in each of the means of grace,
and in each case He also worked in His people in New Testament times so that they give us an
example of diligent use of all the means, the Lord's Supper being no exception.
We considered the Lord's Supper as a sign and as a seal, a remembrance of Christ and a very real
communion with Him. We then reflected on the meal as a sermon, and over the weeks we came
to realize that it proclaims a very full message if we have ears to hear it. Here are some of the
things that it declares:
We went on to consider how helpful the Table can be in the practice of self examination, calling
us to consider whether we are believers who are wholly devoted to the Lord, whether we are
sinning against a brother or sister in the body and whether we have the necessary discernment to
eat the meal in a worthy manner. We saw the usefulness of the Supper to correct our perspective
on the past, the future, our sin and condemnation outside of Christ but the heavenly realities that
are ours in Him. Finally, we looked at how the Table should correct our perspective on the
church as the body of which we are members, joined together in Christ.
For our last meditations, and in the light of all we had seen to this point, we presented the
arguments from Scripture that support a frequent celebration of the Lord's Supper (and they are
many) and briefly considered the arguments often given to participate less frequently (which
seem to be fewer and not derived from Scripture).
What a wonderful gift the Lord has given us in this meal! How rich it is, and how helpful to us as
believers if we use it wisely and consciously reflect on all the truths that are laid our before us in
a visible form. What food luxurious loads the board, when at His Table sits the Lord! Our prayer
continues to be that the Lord's people may treasure this means of grace, may observe it
frequently and may come to know Christ better and to be more like Him as they eat the bread
and drink the wine!
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