to break bread, for communicating and receiving instruction, for laying up offerings in store for
charitable purposes, for occupation in holy thought and prayer. [See Sabbath]
Lords Prayer
the prayer which Jesus taught his disciples. (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4) “In this prayer our
Lord shows his disciples how an infinite variety of wants and requests can be compressed into a
few humble petitions. It embodies every possible desire of a praying heart, a whole world of spiritual
requirements; yet all in the most simple, condensed and humble form, resembling, in this respect,
a pearl on which the light of heaven plays.”—Lange. “This prayer contains four great general
sentiments, which constitute the very soul of religion,—sentiments which are the germs of all holy
deeds in all worlds. (1) Filial reverence : God is addressed not as the great unknown, not as the
unsearchable governor, but as a father, the most intelligible, attractive and transforming name. It
is a form of address almost unknown to the old covenant, now an then hinted at as reminding the
children of their rebellion. (Isaiah 1:2); Mali 1:6 Or mentioned as a last resource of the orphan and
desolate creature, (Isaiah 63:16) but never brought out in its fullness, as indeed it could not be, till
he was come by whom we have received the adoption of sons.”—Alford. (2) “Divine loyalty : ’Thy
kingdom come.’ (3) Conscious dependence : ’Give us this day,’ etc. (4) Unbounded confidence :
’For thine is the power,’ etc.”—Dr. Thomas’ Genius of the Gospels. The doxology, “For thine is
the kingdom” etc., is wanting in many manuscripts. It is omitted in the Revised Version; but it
nevertheless has the authority of some manuscripts, and is truly biblical, almost every word being
found in (1 Chronicles 29:11) and is a true and fitting ending for prayer.
Lords Supper
The words which thus describe the great central act of the worship of the Christian Church
occur but in a single passage of the New Testament— (1 Corinthians 11:20)
•Its institution .—It was instituted on that night when Jesus and his disciples met together to eat
the passover, (Matthew 26:19; Mark 14:16; Luke 22:13) (on Thursday evening, April 6, A.D. 30).
It was probably instituted at the third cup (the cup of blessing) of the passover [see on Passover],
Jesus taking one of the unleavened cakes used at the feast and breaking it and giving it to his
disciples with the cup. The narratives of the Gospels show how strongly the disciples were
impressed with the words which had given a new meaning to the old familiar acts. They had looked
on the bread and the wine as memorials of the deliverance from Egypt. They were not told to
partake of them “in remembrance” of their Master and Lord. The words “This is my body” gave
to the unleavened bread a new character. They had been prepared for language that would otherwise
have been so startling, by the teaching of John ch. (John 6:32-58) and they were thus taught to see
in the bread that was broken the witness of the closest possible union and incorporation with their
Lord. The cup, which was “the new testament in his blood,” would remind them, in like manner,
of the wonderful prophecy in which that new covenant had been foretold. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
“Gradually and progressively he had prepared the minds of his disciples to realize the idea of his
death as a sacrifice. he now gathers up all previous announcements in the institution of this
sacrament.”—Cambridge Bible. The festival had been annual. No rule was given as to the time
and frequency of the new feast that thus supervened on the old, but the command “Do this as oft
as ye drink it,” (1 Corinthians 11:25) suggested the more continual recurrence of that which was
to be their memorial of one whom they would wish never to forget. Luke, in the Acts, describes
the baptized members of the Church as continuing steadfast in or to the teaching of the apostles,
in fellowship with them and with each other, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)
frankie
(Frankie)
#1