A call to restore the Lord’s Table to our weekly worship
We have now looked at how the Scripture provides a precedent for weekly communion, we have seen the way in which the theology that underlies the Supper supports a frequent use, we have seen how a theology of presence is foundational to frequent communion, and we have seen how the pattern of word and sign or word and sacrament, provides a model for our weekly worship as well. Now we turn to an argument from the week.
An argument from the week
On the 7th day, God rested from the work he had done. God has day by day, taken delight in his work. “He saw what he had made, and he declared it good.” We can extrapolate from what has come before that God continues to delight in his work on the 7th day. He is no longer evaluating his creation though. Rather, he is enjoying the work that he has done.
God’s pattern is our pattern. We work, and then we enjoy the fruit of our labours. As Christ says, God did not make man for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. On the Sabbath, Israel finished all her work and was able to enjoy the fruit of her labours with her Father and Creator. That rest was an opportunity for festival and communion with her Creator. And what is communion with our Creator other than the worship of God?
But now Christ has fulfilled the Sabbath and has been raised on the first day of the week. He does so as the New Creation, in whom we are also a New Creation. As a new creation, he is a source of sustenance to our spiritual bodies, just as the old creation is a source of sustenance to our physical bodies. Baptism marks our entrance into that rest of this New Creation. The Lord’s Supper confirms to our hearts our continual participation in that rest.
The Lord’s Supper allows us to eat of the fruit of Christ’s labors and so have the freedom to exercise our good works in the week ahead. Again that rest is found in communion with God. That communion is worship. That is why we worship on the day of rest. From the beginning, the church has joined together on the first day of the week to enjoy the fruit of Christ’s labors.
The week is re-worked through the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ is a dividing line of history. Christ accomplished what Adam could not. Adam sinned so that man is no longer able to produce truly good things. He could not produce the good fruit God called him to produce. Everything is affected by sin. Christ did the six days of work that Adam was unable to do and so brought about a new pattern.
We begin by enjoying the fruit of Christ’s labors, rather than end the week by taking delight in our labours. That doesn’t mean that the labours of Israel didn’t come from grace in the Old Testament. All our work is a gift from God. That labour, however, was never able to fulfill the law. Christ fulfilled the law and brought in a new era, which came with a new week. A week where we begin in the work of Christ.
We participate in Christ; we enjoy the fruit of Christ’s labors so that we begin the week in the rest of Christ. In this way, the Lord’s Supper is about the pattern of work and rest that God has worked into the world. In the new covenant, we begin the week with the knowledge that we have been given rest through Christ’s work, so that we, as the Heidelberg Catechism says in Lord’s Day 38, may rest from our evil works. When we celebrate infrequently, we lose something of that constant reminder.
The Lord’s Supper communicates the work of Christ to us. Christ is the seed that dies. We take in that seed. Through that participation, we produce good works. We can’t do good works apart from Christ. The law couldn’t save it could only condemn. But because we begin the week in Christ, we can do good works. Again, we see the importance of the Lord’s Supper in the process of sanctification.
Perhaps our modern world doesn’t understand rest, because the church has not adequately understood the rest that God gives in communion. Rest isn’t merely ceasing to work. Rest is the festival, as exemplified in the Lord’s Supper, it is coming together in communion with God. And on Sunday, we come together and enjoy the fruits of Christ’s labors. Ultimately that is the gospel. If we had weekly communion, we might appreciate the fullness of that gospel.
John van Popta
We can notice that in Genesis there is no marking of the end of the seventh day. 6 times we read” and there was evening and morning the Xth day.” But not the seventh day. God entered into his rest on the Seventh day and rested with his creatures Adam and Eve. And that rest was not to end. The seventh day continued; it did not come to a close. But man fell into sin and became restless. And as Augustine said, “restless is the heart, until it finds rest in you, O Lord.” But Jesus arose from the dead on the 8th day. As symbolized in the sacrament of circumcision on the 8th day: the first day of a new week. A new creation week! And we with him. We died with him and have already been raised with him to a new life. And so we with him enter into his father’s rest. We find rest for our restless souls. And so we come to the wedding feast of the lamb!
James
I appreciate the addition. There are so many riches in the theology of the week and the new week of Christ!
John van Popta
We can notice that in Genesis there is no marking of the end of the seventh day. 6 times we read” and there was evening and morning the Xth day.” But not the seventh day. God entered into his rest on the Seventh-day and rested with his creatures Adam and Eve. And that rest was not to end. The seventh day continued; it did not come to a close. But man fell into sin and became restless. And as Augustine said, “restless is the heart, until it finds rest in you, O Lord.” But Jesus arose from the dead on the 8th day. As symbolized in the sacrament of circumcision on the 8th day: the first day of a new week. A new creation week! And we with him. We died with him and have already been raised with him to a new life. And so we with him enter into his father’s rest. We find rest for our restless souls. And so we come to the wedding feast of the lamb!