The Lord’s Day
Morning
April 19, 2009
Communion Sunday
Luke 4:1-13
“Tempted, Tried but Never Failing”
Dr. J. Ligon
Duncan III
CALL TO WORSHIP: O come, let us worship and bow
down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God, and we are the
people of His pasture, the flock under His care. Let us worship Him.
Our Lord and our God, we need You more than food.
We love You more than life. We treasure You more than anything. We come today by
the gospel; we come today by the cross; we come today by the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, trusting in Him alone. Nothing in our hands we bring, simply to
the cross we cling. We come to You in faith, looking for Your grace, looking for
yourself. We want to know You, we want to commune with You, we want to
fellowship with You. We want to engage with You in Your word and at Your table
on the terms that You propose and in the way that You alone make possible. So,
come, Holy Spirit, and enable us to worship in Spirit and in truth. And come,
Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and invite us to and sit down and sup
with us at Your table spread by Christ, spread by grace, and get all the glory
for
it. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to
turn with me to the Gospel of Luke, the fourth chapter. We’ll be looking at
verses 1-13. We’ve been making our way through the Gospel of Luke together, and
when we were last together in this series we were looking at the end of Luke 3,
at the genealogy of Christ and especially what it teaches about Him.
Today we find ourselves in the wilderness with
Jesus, and He is being tempted by Satan. I want to draw your attention to a
number of things to look for and a few things to bear in mind as God’s word is
read in this great passage today.
First of all, isn’t it striking as you read this
passage that Jesus answers each temptation from Satan with Scripture? I
mean, if ever there was someone who had the right to answer Satan with his own
words, it was the Lord Jesus Christ. But He takes Satan to the Bible and He
answers Satan by the Bible, and there is a great word of instruction for us in
that. If the Lord Jesus takes Satan to the Bible in rebuking Him, surely it is
to the Scriptures that we must go as our only rule of faith and life.
Notice also that what is playing out in Luke
4:1-13 is a parallel to Genesis 3. In Genesis 3 Eve and Adam are tempted by
the evil one — the devil, Satan in the form of a talking serpent — in the
beautiful pristine garden. It is a perfect world in which there is no sin in
humanity, and yet this fallen angel in the guise of a talking serpent comes to
tempt Eve and Adam. And in contrast, Luke is painting us a very different
picture of the place of Jesus’ temptation. He is not in a garden, He’s in a
wilderness; and that in and of itself provides us a very graphic contrast
between the unfallen world of Adam and the fallen world in which our Savior
lived. This temptation is the temptation, in other words, of the second Adam.
Paul will put it this way:
“For through one man’s disobedience all died, so also through one man’s act of
obedience all are made alive.”
That is, as we are in Adam, all die; all those who are in
Jesus Christ, however, are made alive. So what we have is a contrast between
Genesis 3 and Luke 4: the temptation of the first Adam — a temptation which he
failed and thus plunged us all into an estate of sin and misery — and the
temptation of the second Adam — which He passed and thus opened the doorway of
life to all who trust in Him. So it’s not a garden but a wilderness that this
temptation takes place in. It is a picture of our fallen world.
Notice also other contrasts between these
temptations. Adam is tempted once and sins and three curses follow. Jesus is
tempted not once, not twice, but three times, and passes every test, and God’s
blessings follow. Jesus, in contrast to Adam, lived in a fallen world sinlessly;
Adam lived in a sinless world, and by his sinful actions filled it with sin. So
there are amazing contrasts between the temptation in the garden and the
temptation in the wilderness that you should be on the lookout for as we work
our way through the passage. We won’t be able to give close attention to each of
the three temptations, but just notice them.
First, there is a temptation to make bread from
stones. This is a temptation to cause Jesus not to trust in God’s providence.
Then there is a temptation to worship Satan and then
be given the whole world. This is a temptation for Jesus to bypass the cross and
to engage in idolatry.
And then the third temptation is to throw himself
down from the pinnacle of the temple and to trust God and His angels to save Him
from destruction. This is a temptation to presume upon the care of the Lord. All
of these are dread temptations.
Now let’s look to the Lord in prayer and ask for His
help and blessing as we prepare to study this word.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Scriptures,
for as the Lord Jesus will teach us in just a few moments, we do not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from Your mouth. This is no less
true today than it was true in the wilderness when our Lord was being tempted.
So grant, O Lord, that we would taste and see that You are good, and that we
would read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the truth of Your holy Scriptures.
This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hear the word of God:
“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the
Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate
nothing during those days. And when they were ended, He was hungry. The devil
said to Him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’
And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone.”’
And the devil took Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a
moment of time, and said to Him, ‘To You I will give all this authority and
their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If
You then will worship me, it will all be Yours.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘It is
written,
“You shall worship the Lord your God,
and Him only shall you serve.”’
And he took Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said
to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is
written,
“He will command His angels concerning you,
to guard you,”
and
“On their hands they will bear You up
lest You strike Your foot against a stone.”’
And Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the
test.”’
And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an
opportune time.”
Amen. And thus ends this reading of God’s holy, inspired,
and inerrant word. May He write its eternal truth upon all our hearts.
In this great passage, Luke is recording for us
the temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness so that we would learn
something about God’s providence and something about God’s provision for us in
Jesus Christ, and it’s those two things I want to look at with you very briefly
this morning.
I. God’s providence.
The first thing that Luke wants to draw to our
attention is an important truth about God’s providence. Did you notice that
Luke emphasizes that Jesus is not in the wilderness by accident? Jesus is not
someplace where He’s not supposed to be. Who has led Jesus into the wilderness?
It is the Spirit who has led Jesus into the wilderness.
Look at verse 1. Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit,
and He is led by the Spirit in the wilderness. Jesus is exactly where God the
Spirit wants Him to be, and yet while in the wilderness in the midst of
spiritual exercises in which He is fasting…. And you know what fasting is for.
Fasting is designed to deprive you of the comfort of the very basic necessities
of life in water and in food, so that you will remember (1) that everything that
you have comes from God; (2) so that you will remember that you are utterly
dependent upon God; (3) so that you will remember that God is better than any of
the gifts that He gives — that He’s better than food and water, and He’s the
giver of food and water, and that you’re utterly dependent upon Him for it. And
so Jesus is engaging in spiritual exercises, and precisely at this place Satan
comes to meet Him.
It reminds you, doesn’t it, of another place where
Satan came to tempt a godly man? It’s in the book of Job. And in Job 1 and 2,
we’re told that it is God who brought Satan’s attention to Job: “Have you
considered,” God says to Satan, “…have you considered my servant Job?”
Here’s Jesus devoting himself by fasting to the Lord
in the wilderness, led by the Holy Spirit, and it is precisely there that He
encounters His great temptation. Now there is an important truth about God’s
providence that the Lord intends us to learn from this, my friends, and it’s
simply this: You can be in the center of God’s will, you can be doing exactly
what God would have you to do and right there you can encounter your greatest
trials, your deepest sorrows, your most intrepid testings. Jesus is doing
exactly what the Father would have Him do. He’s led by the Holy Spirit, and it’s
precisely there that He encounters this great temptation.
Now, friends, that ought to be a word of
encouragement to some of you. Some of you have been faithfully trying to serve
your Lord and God. You’ve tried to do exactly what you know He would have you
do, according to His word. And yet you have found yourself in deep trials and
problems and heartaches and heartbreaks, and you’ve wondered, “Have I done
something wrong? If I were only in the center of God’s will, this wouldn’t be
happening to me right now.” And here’s the Lord Jesus doing exactly what the
Lord would have Him to do, and He is facing the great trial and temptation of
the second Adam.
My friends, sometimes you are right where the Lord
wants you, and trial and temptation is right there, too. We must never ever
forget that. You know there are some people who say if you’ll become a
Christian, all your problems will be over. Our Lord’s own experience makes it
clear that that is not true. Do not think that when you encounter problems it is
necessarily because you are not doing what God would have you to do, because
sometimes right in the midst of doing precisely what the Lord would have you to
do we encounter various trials and testings. The Lord Jesus did, and if it
happens to the Master, should we be surprised that it happens to His disciples?
There’s a great message of God’s providence in this passage that just because
you love the Lord Jesus, just because you’re following the living God, just
because you’re trusting in the gospel doesn’t mean that you will not have to
walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It doesn’t mean that you will
not face trials and tribulations and testings. What it does mean is that
even when you’re there in the valley of the shadow of
death, He will be with you.
II. God’s provision for us in
Jesus Christ.
There’s a second thing that Luke especially wants
to draw our attention to here, and that is God’s provision for us in Jesus
Christ. I want to draw your attention especially to the first temptation
because it captures it so well. You understand what Satan is doing when He tells
Jesus, who has been fasting for forty days…he tells Jesus, ‘Look, Jesus. You’re
hungry. Why don’t You just turn that stone into bread and eat?’
What’s going on with that temptation? It is a
temptation for Jesus to question the love and goodness and provision of God His
Father. It’s a temptation for Jesus to take into His own hands the provision of
what He needs, and not to trust in God’s provision of what He needs. It’s a
temptation for Jesus to contradict everything that He’s been doing in the
fasting. The fasting is supposed to drive home to anyone who is fasting that
it’s God who provides for us. He’s the one who gives us what we need. And Satan
is saying, ‘Jesus, look, You’re hungry. Where’s Your Father? Surely if Your
Father loved You, He would have spread a meal for You here in the wilderness! So
here’s what You do. Just turn that stone into bread. I know You can do it.
You’ve got the power to do it. You can do miracles. You’re going to give people
all the food they can eat from a few measly loaves and fishes in a few months. I
know that You can turn that stone into bread. Your Father’s forgotten about You.
He doesn’t care about what You need. Make it yourself!’ He’s tempting Jesus to
question the goodness of God.
And does that ring a bell to you? Back in the garden,
Satan had come to Eve and he’d asked her a question: ‘Do you mean to tell me
that God told you you couldn’t eat of all these beautiful trees in the garden?’
Now you, like Eve, know that that’s not what God’s command was. It was one tree
that they were not to eat of. But why does Satan put it that way? Because he’s
trying to put this thought in Eve’s heart: ‘God doesn’t care about you. God’s
not good to you. God’s not generous to you. He’s stingy and unreasonable, and He
doesn’t care about your best interests. I, on the other hand, care about your
best interests. So here’s what you ought to do, Eve. You ought to take from that
tree the fruit that God said don’t eat, and you should eat from that tree.
Because God’s not good. You’ve got to take care of yourself.’
Do you know what Derek Kidner ways about that verse?
He says,
“So simple an act, so hard its undoing. God will taste poverty and death
before “Take and eat” become verbs of salvation.”
And do you see what Satan is doing here in the wilderness
to Jesus? ‘Jesus, take! Eat! You need that bread! Your Father’s not provided it
for You. He’s not good. He’s not worth living for and dying for, because He’s
not loving and He’s not generous and He’s not good.’
Do you understand, my friends, that every time we
face the temptation to sin that is the temptation that we’re playing out over
again? Every time you look to take something that’s not yours, you’re saying
that God hasn’t provided me what I need so I’m going to take it for myself.
Every time you’re tempted to take someone who is not yours, you’re saying God
hasn’t provided me with the someone that I need, and so I’m going to take what I
need. You are playing out again the lie of the evil one who says that God is not
good and that He doesn’t give what we need. And here’s Jesus, and Jesus’
response to Satan is this: ‘I don’t live by bread alone. I live by every word
that proceeds from My Father’s mouth.’ And so Jesus resists the temptation of
Satan — ‘Take and eat that bread, Jesus! Take and eat that bread, Adam and Eve,
because God’s not going to provide for you. He’s not good.’ And Jesus says, ‘No.
I live by the words of My Father’s mouth. I will not take and eat.’
But then Jesus turns to His people and He says,
“Take, eat; this is My body which is given for you.” ‘God
has provided for you, My people, everything that you need, and it’s Me.
So here; take and eat freely, because your Father has in the goodness of His
heart given you the most precious thing in this world. Can you doubt His
goodness and love? He has given you Me.’ Jesus turns those words of temptation
into words of salvation by His perfect obedience, by His resistance to
temptation and by His dying the death on the cross in our place.
Oh, my friends! When the temptation comes to you to
take what Satan says that you need when it is what God says that you must not
take, remember your Savior and live in the second Adam, not in the first. And so
be found raised to newness of life in the second Adam, instead of condemned to
death in the first.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we bow before You this day
thanking You for Your providence over every aspect of our life and for Your
provision for us in the gospel. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now let’s prepare to come to the Lord’s table singing
No. 252, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.
“When I survey the wondrous
cross
on which the Prince of glory
died,
My richest gain I count but
loss,
and pour contempt on all my
pride.”
~~~
The Lord’s
Supper
Dr. Duncan: As we come to the Lord’s Table let’s
give attention to the words of institution of the sacrament spoken by our Lord
Jesus Christ and given to the Apostle Paul, written in Scripture in I
Corinthians 11:23-29:
“For this I received from the Lord, that which I also delivered to you, that the
Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had
given thanks, He broke it, and said, ‘This is My body, which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way He took the cup also, after
supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as
you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat the bread and drink
the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
The Reverend Mr. Nate Shurden: The Lord’s Supper is
a sacrament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is a covenant sign and seal
meant to strengthen us in the faith and to ratify God’s promises to His people.
If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, trusting in Him
alone for salvation and a member of an evangelical church (a gospel-believing
church), we invite you to this table. This is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s
table, not First Presbyterian Church’s table or the table of this denomination,
but this is Christ’s table.
If you are an unbeliever here this morning…maybe you
are seeking the Lord in faith…we ask that you would wait, that you would refrain
from this table, taking the Apostle Paul’s admonition in I Corinthians 11. We
pray that you would consider what this table says to us, the message of what
Jesus has done for you; that you would pray; that you would repent; and that you
would believe in Christ in the gospel.
Dr. Duncan: Let us pray, setting aside these
common elements to a holy use.
Eternal God, Lord of creation, Triune One made
manifest in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, as we gather at Your table today at
Your own bidding, we acknowledge Your grace to us. Make these common elements to
serve as Your means of grace to us, Your people; and grant that we would receive
them by faith and so taste of heavenly mercies bestowed by Your Holy Spirit.
This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Mr. Shurden: The Lord’s Supper is a communing
sacrament where we meet with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and so it is
appropriate that we would gather as believers and confess our faith in Christ.
Christian, what do you believe?
[Ministers and Congregation]
I believe in God the Father
Almighty,
Maker of
heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ, His only
Son, our Lord,
Who was
conceived by the Holy Ghost,
Born of the virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius
Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He rose again
from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand
of God the Father Almighty.
From thence He shall come to
judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic church;
The communion of the saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
The resurrection of the body;
And the life everlasting.
Amen.
Dr. Duncan: If you would, take your bulletins out
and look at the synopsis of The Ten Commandments printed on the bottom of the
back panel. It’s appropriate as we come to the Lord’s Table that we recite The
Ten Commandments for many reasons, but one is this: in each of these
commandments we see Satan saying to us, ‘Take other Gods before Him. Make for
yourselves idols. Take the Lord’s name in vain. Do not remember the Sabbath Day.
Do not honor your father and mother. Murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false
witness, covet. Take all of these things.’
The Lord Jesus Christ says, ‘I have borne the penalty
of all your sins against all those commandments of God. Don’t take the liberty
to break God’s law. Take Me, instead.’ Let’s confess before God His standards
and what God has done for us in Jesus Christ to fulfill them on our behalf when
we have fallen short:
[Ministers and Congregation]
You shall have no other gods
before Me.
You shall not make for
yourself an idol. You shall not worship them or serve them.
You shall not take the name
of the Lord your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy.
Honor your father and your
mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit
adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false
witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night that He was betrayed,
took bread and broke it and gave it to His disciples, as I now ministering in
His name give it to you. And He said to them, “Take, eat. This is My body which
is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
[Elements given.]
Mr. Shurden: In the same way, after supper the Lord
Jesus took the cup and said, “This is the new covenant in My blood. Do this as
often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
[Elements given.]
Dr. Duncan: [Giving elements to elders.]
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believed on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
“Jesus said, ‘No one comes to the Father but by Me.’
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin, that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him.”
Mr. Shurden: [Giving elements to elders.]
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and delivered himself up for me.”
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children
of God, even to them that believe on His name.”
Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, we do know it to be a deep
and abiding privilege to have sat at Your table this day. We remember that there
are many who have sat in years and centuries, even millenniums before, who have
loved You and whom You have loved. Help us by the grace of the Holy Spirit to
preserve in us the witness of the gospel. Keep us from the fiery darts of the
evil one, and make us faithful by Your grace to the vows which we have made,
even in our first communion. Give us grace to walk with the Savior and all His
people in unity and in truth. Receive our thanks in Jesus’ name. Amen.
As they did in the first Lord’s Supper, we will close
this day with a hymn. Please take your bulletins in hand. We will sing The
Power of the Cross.
[Congregation sings.]
“O to see the dawn of the darkest
day;
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men, torn and
beaten, then,
nailed to a cross of wood.
This the power of the cross.
Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath;
we stand forgiven at the cross.”
Dr. Duncan: Peace to all you who trust in
Christ as He’s offered in the gospel, through the love of God your Father and
the grace of your Jesus, the Messiah.
[Choir: Five-fold Amen,
PINEHURST]
THE LORD’S
DAY
The
Nineteenth Day of April, Two Thousand Nine
MORNING
WORSHIP
Eight-Thirty and Eleven O’Clock
Senior
Minister – The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III
Assisting
Minister – The Reverend Nathan D. Shurden
Minister of
Discipleship
The Greetings and
Announcements (8:20 and 10:50 a.m.)
The Prelude
– “My
Shepherd Will Supply All My Need”……..Arr. Craig Duncan
Shellie Brown,
Violinist; Connie S. Wadsworth, Organist
The Introit
–
“Praise to the Lord, the
Almighty”…………………………………….Lobe Den Herren
The Call to
Worship
‡ The Hymn of
Praise No. 167
– “When Morning
Gilds the Skies”
‡ The Prayer of
Adoration and Invocation
The Public
Profession of Faith
The Biblical
Basis
The Introduction
of New Members and Communicants
The Questions of
Membership
The Prayer
The Declaration
The Blessing
The Presentation
of God’s Tithes and Our Offerings
The Anthem
– “Were You
There?”………………………………………Southern Spiritual
“Were you
there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes
it causes me to tremble.
Were you there
when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there
when they nailed Him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes
it causes me to tremble.
Were you there
when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there
when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes
it causes me to tremble.
Were you there
when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there
when He rose up from the dead?
Oh! Sometimes
I feel like shouting glory!
Were you there
when He rose up from the dead?”
The Prayer of
Illumination
The Reading of
Holy Scripture
– Luke 4:1-13
(Pew Bible page 859)
The Sermon
– “Tempted,
Tried but Never Failing”…………………………Dr. Duncan
‡ The Hymn of
Preparation No. 252
– “When I Survey
the Wondrous Cross”
The Lord’s Supper
The Words of
Institution
The Invitation
The Prayer of
Consecration
The Apostles’
Creed
The Ten
Commandments
The Communion
with Our Lord Jesus Christ and His People
The Prayer of
Thanksgiving
‡ The Hymn
– “The Power
of the Cross” (See Guide)
‡ The Benediction
The Response
–
“Five-fold
Amen”…………………………………………………..Pinehurst
The Postlude
–
“Postludium…………………………………………………………..Ron
Boud
A Guide to
the Morning Service
At First
Presbyterian Church, we follow the old Southern Presbyterian practice of
celebrating the Lord’s Supper (what some churches call the “Eucharist” or “Holy
Communion”) four times a year. The Ruling Elders of our church assist in the
distribution of the elements of the Supper as a visible manifestation of their
pastoral care of the flock. The biblical teaching on the nature of the
sacraments may be epitomized as follows: God’s sacraments or covenant
signs/seals are “visible words” (Augustine). In them we see with our eyes the
promise of God. Indeed, in the sacraments we see, smell, touch and taste the
word. In the public reading and preaching of Scripture, God addresses our mind
and conscience through the hearing. In the sacraments, He uniquely addresses our
mind and conscience through the other senses. In, through and to the senses,
God’s promise is made tangible. A sacrament is a covenant sign and seal, which
means it reminds us and assures us of a promise. That is, it points to and
confirms a gracious promise of God to His people. Another way of saying it is
that a sacrament is an action designed by God to sign (symbolize) and seal
(ratify) a covenantal reality, accomplished by the power and grace of God, the
significance of which has been communicated by the word of God, and the reality
of which is received or entered into only by faith. Hence, the weakness, the
frailty of human faith welcomes this gracious act of reassurance. The sacraments
are by nature supplemental to and confirmatory of the promises held out in the
word, and the grace conveyed by them is the same grace held out via the means of
preaching. The sacraments are efficacious for the elect and the elect only,
since their benefits are sanctificational (that is, the Lord’s Supper doesn’t
“save” us, it grows us) and received by faith. In the Lord’s Supper, the
Christian, by faith, experiences true communion with Christ in all His benefits.
Since the Lord’s Supper is for professing believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who
have “discerned the body of the Lord”–that is, the Church–(1 Corinthians 11:29),
it is appropriate that we confess our faith together before we take it. We often
use the Apostles’ Creed in order to publicly declare our whole-hearted embrace
of the truth of the faith once-delivered. We also recite the Ten Commandments
prior to taking the Lord’s Supper. By recounting the Law directly adjacent to
the Gospel ordinance of the Lord’s Supper we are reminded of our need for the
forgiveness of sins and the rich provision we have in Jesus Christ’s perfect
obedience (see Romans 5:20).
The Invitation
The Lord’s
Table is for those who are trusting in Jesus Christ. So
we invite to
this table, the Lord’s table, all those who trust in Jesus Christ alone for
their salvation as He is offered in the Gospel and who have joined themselves to
the body
of Christ,
His Church. If you are not a believer in Christ who has identified yourself with
His Church, don’t come to the table. Rather, wait, think, pray, repent, and
believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Parents will want to take note that we do
not practice paedo-communion (infants or young children who have not yet taken
membership vows partaking of the Lord’s Supper) at First Presbyterian Church.
Young people who have answered the five questions of church membership and thus
have become communicant members of First Presbyterian Church (or the equivalent
at some other Gospel-believing church) are invited to the table.
The Presence of Christ
The consensus
of Reformed teaching on the way in which Christ is present in the Lord’s Supper
may be summarized as follows: there is absolutely no corporeal presence of
Christ whatsoever in the Lord’s Supper. The believer does not corporeally
partake of Christ in the Supper. Christ is not elementally, spatially, or
locally present in the Supper in any way. There is no change or conversion of
the elements in the Supper. The believer does indeed receive Christ in the
Supper, but not by the mouth, rather by faith. Nor does Christ’s humanity come
down to the believer, but by the Spirit the believer is raised in heart to
receive Christ in His ascended glory.