Why The Sacraments Are Essential
Introduction
John Madden died on December 28, 2021. Madden was a larger-than-life personality and was debatably the most influential sports personality of the last 50 years. Madden coached the Oakland Raiders in the 1970’s, taking his team to multiple AFC championship games and winning Super Bowl XI in 1977. To this day John Madden still has the best winning percentage of any coach in NFL history.
After retiring from coaching at the age of 42, Madden went on to have a Hall of Fame career as a TV broadcaster. He worked for and even called Super Bowls on all four major networks; a feat that will never be eclipsed. Two hall of fame careers weren't enough though; He also created the Madden football video game, which is without a doubt the most influential and successful sports video game in history. To call John Madden a legend would be an understatement.
What made John Madden so great as a coach, broadcaster, and video game personality was that John Madden was a teacher. As a broadcaster Madden made the game of football accessible and understandable to everyone through his commentary and use of the revolutionary telestrator. The Madden video game has taught several generations of kids the intricacies of football. John Madden took the theory of the most complex team sport game in America and made it accessible to us all. He took the complex and he made it tangible.
This morning as in our series of essentials we come to the sacraments. The sacraments are where the mystery of the gospel becomes tangible. In Baptism and the Lord’s Supper all of the history, theology, and mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ becomes real for us. The Sacraments are where the past and the future of the Kingdom of Christ break into our present moment.
The Sacraments are Essential because Christ Commanded us to Keep Them
First, the sacraments are essential because Christ commanded us to keep them. Jesus’ last recorded words in the Gospel of Matthew for two millennia have been referred to as the Great Commission. Jesus said,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28.18-20).
Jesus explicitly commanded his church to practice the sacrament of baptism as she disciples and teaches all the nations.
The most famous instructions in Scripture about the Eucharist are found in 1st Corinthians 11.17-34. Five times in this pericope Paul uses the phrase, “when you come together” (vss. 17, 18, 20, 33-34). The Bible clearly commands and assumes that each local church would observe the Lord’s Supper every Sunday as the Word of God is preached. Paul also quotes Jesus’ command:
“This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Cor 11.24-25).
The command, “do this” is the Greek word, ποιεῖτε. It is a 2nd person plural present active imperative verb. What does that mean? Let’s break it down. First of all, it’s a verb; something we do. Second, it’s an active verb; not passive. It is not done to us; it’s something we actively do.
Third, it’s an imperative. That means it’s a command. Jesus isn’t describing what some people might do. He’s commanding that it be done.
Fourth, it’s a present verb. It’s not something people merely did in the past. It’s not a future verb; something people might do in the future. It’s a present verb. For all time the command is to presently do it every time we come together as a church.
Finally, it is a 2nd person plural verb. It’s not a second person singular “you;” like, you, Alex, do this. It’s a second person plural; like, y’all do it. Christ Community Church, you all do this whenever you come together as a church. Jesus explicitly commanded the church to keep the sacraments.
The Sacraments are Essential because They Uniquely Embody and Preach the Gospel
Not only are the sacraments essential because Christ commanded us to keep them, but also because they uniquely embody and preach the gospel. The Westminster Confession of Faith defines the sacraments in this way:
“Sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace. They were instituted by God along with that covenant to represent Christ and his benefits, to confirm our position with and in him, to demonstrate a visible difference between those who belong to the church and the rest of the world, and solemnly to engage believers in the service of God in Christ according to his word.”
There are only 2 sacraments – baptism and the Eucharist. These are the only 2 signs given by Christ himself to the church to be signs and seals of the new covenant. Augustine, the most influential of all the Patristics, defined the sacraments as an outward and visible sign of an invisible yet genuine grace. The sacraments uniquely embody and preach the gospel.
The gospel is the good news that the eternal second person of the Holy Trinity was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. His name is Jesus of Nazareth and he lived a truly human life, yet without sin (Heb 4.15). He died on the cross bearing the wrath of God for the sins of his people. He was buried and on the third day he rose again from the grave.
And everyone who will repent of their sins and trust in him alone will be saved. They will experience the forgiveness of sins and the hope of resurrection and eternal life in the new world when Jesus returns to raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new. Even now if you will know these truths, ascent that they are true, and trust in Christ, you will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom 10.13)!
Baptism is the initiatory rite into the local church. Just as we come out wet when we are naturally born, so also the waters of baptism signify our spiritual birth. We pattern the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ in baptism. It does not wash away original sin, as the Roman Catholic Church has taught, but it signifies that in Christ alone our sins are washed away.
Baptism is the initiatory rite into the local church and the Holy Communion is the continuing rite of the local church. At the Lord’s Supper every week we spiritually feast on the body and blood of Christ. He is our daily bread. In Holy Communion we weekly commune with the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ. At the Eucharist we give thanks to God every week for his inexpressible gift! The Lord’s Table is our weekly family meal with our Father and elder brother by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The sacraments embody the gospel but they also preach the gospel. In the waters of baptism and in the bread and wine we see, feel, and taste the gospel. There is no one who has ever come away from the waters of baptism dry. There is no one who has ever come away from the Eucharist without digestion. Christ left them so that we can be reminded that the gospel is real. As real as water is wet, as real as the bread and wine taste, so the gospel is that real.
The church has always baptized in water. Christians in the past have even broken icy waterbeds so that they could practice baptism. The first time I ever administered baptism as a Pastor was at the little country parish when I preached before God called me back to Christ Community Church. I was understandably nervous because it was my first time so I asked Bethany if I could practice on her. She graciously agreed so the night before we went down to the church where the baptistery had already been filled. What we didn’t know was that the heater hadn’t been turned on yet. Well, Bethany is no wimp so I practice baptized her in cold water. She stands in line with the saints of Russia past who broke ice to baptize their people.
Likewise for the Lord’s Supper, the elements of bread and wine were universally prescribed and used in every Christian church in history until the middle of the 19th century when some Liberal Baptist influenced by the American temperance movement replaced wine with unfermented grape juice. This was not the case with all Baptists though, as some continued to urge the use of wine, arguing that the Lord himself commanded wine. In the modern period Reformed Christians have held a high view of the Eucharist. Charles Spurgeon said he thought the closest that we are to heaven in this life is at the Lord’s Table. Karl Barth said that Christ conjoined himself to the elect and that the Lord’s Supper is “instituted to represent this perfect fellowship between Him and them which He established.” Thus in Holy Communion believers remember and proclaim redemption in Christ.
The Sacraments are Essential because They Characterize God’s Family
The sacraments are essential because Christ commanded us to keep them, they are essential because they uniquely embody and preach the gospel, and finally the sacraments are essential because they are the characteristics of the family of God. We read from 1st Corinthians 12.12-13, which says,
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
Here Scripture uses sacramental language to describe our unity in the church. We were all baptized into one body. We were all made to drink of one Spirit. In our baptisms, in our eating and drinking of the Eucharist, we are united in the body of Jesus himself. These are our uniting family characteristics.
Everyone has family characteristics. You have the nose of one of your grandparents, or you do something in an annoying way, just like your parent, or if you put a wig on him, he looks just like his sister. We all have family resemblances. The sacraments are our family resemblances.
We all come from different walks of life; different ethnicities, different socioeconomic statuses, different political affiliations, but we are all baptized into one body. We all eat and drink from the same table. Just as we’re all born of our mother into this world, so we all come through the waters of baptism into the body of Christ. So also, the name the Lord’s Supper evokes the family dynamic. God is our Father and we are his family. We are the bride of Christ. And we weekly have supper with each other and with our triune God.
There’s a 15th century painting by Andrei Rublev called Троица or “The Trinity.” The piece portrays 3 men sitting at a table. When you consider the perspective of the viewer (you!) there are 4 people at the table. Rublev’s point was that in salvation we’re invited into the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We enact this reality each week at the Lord’s Supper. We dine with our God!
It’s also called Holy Communion. Paul writes the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ (1 Cor 10.16)? The word participation is the Greek word κοινωνία. In the Vulgate the Latin word is communicatio. This is where the name Holy Communion derives. It speaks to the fellowship that we have with Jesus Christ. There is a unique covenant presence of Jesus in the Supper. Biblically speaking, the fellowship that we have with the risen Christ is in the sacrament – Holy Communion.
We call it the Eucharist. The word Eucharist is a transliteration of the Greek word εὐχαριστία, which means, “to express gratitude for benefits or blessings; to give thanks.” It comes from the synoptic Gospels when Christ gave thanks after he broke the bread and raised the wine. Eucharist reminds us that the supper is not always or merely a somber sacrament. It is a table of joy and thanksgiving. Low churches have a history of making the Eucharist more of a funeral luncheon than a wedding banquet. When we do so we neglect much of why Jesus left it for us. The Eucharist is to be a weekly catalyst of joy and thanksgiving!
The sacraments are our family resemblance. We come into the family of the local church through the waters of baptism. We then feast together every week at this holy meal. That’s why the sacraments are for the church. Baptism and Communion are not for individuals or a small group of friends as they gather, or for Para church ministries like camps or college gatherings; they are for the gathered church. The sacraments are the family characteristics of God’s people.
Conclusion
Through his broadcasting and video game Coach John Madden made the theory of the complex game of football accessible to everyone. The ethereal became tangible. The Sacraments are where the history, theology, and mystery of the gospel become real to the church. Baptism and the Eucharist are the places where the past and future of the gospel break into the present.
The Sacraments are essential to Christ Community Church because they are our distinguishing marks. They are our new birthright. They are our family traditions that set us apart from the world. They bring us into the family of God and they sustain us. The Sacraments are the only tangible expressions of the gospel that Jesus left us.
John Madden embodied the game of football. When accompanied by the Word, the Sacraments embody the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even now as we take the Eucharist together it is our weekly way to remember and respond together. We respond to the Word through our obedience to take Holy Communion every week. We remember his body broken for us and his blood shed for us. The late Anglican Priest Thomas McKenzie said, as we walk up to the Lord’s Table with each step we respond and we remember.
And we will forever. When Christ returns he will preside over an eternal Eucharist where we will remember and respond to the gospel forever. The Lord’s Supper is our weekly rehearsal dinner for the eternal marriage supper of the Lamb. It is Jesus’ weekly declaration that when he returns he’s throwing an eternal party and all of the drinks are on him.