Reverence for God in Observing the Lord's Supper
Back on March 3, 2025, The Beacon (from the Bellview Church of Christ in Pensacola, Florida) published an article, “Would You Believe?” by Bob Howton. He wrote of an amazing occurrence, in which he witnessed a preacher on TV who said, “We’re preparing to partake of the Lord’s Supper, and we invite millions worldwide to go to their refrigerators or cupboards and get ‘Dr. Pepper,’ tea, whatever you wish to drink, and some kind of crackers or bread, and we’ll all participate in Holy Communion”! It was Wednesday!
Howton’s assessment of such a practice was accurate: “Wrong day! Wrong emblems! Wrong authority!” What is the day that the Lord’s Supper is to be observed? The habitual time in Troas was on Sunday: “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7). This happens to be the same day of the week when Paul commanded brethren to “lay something aside” in the way of a gift (1 Cor. 16:2). The way the Greek is worded, we are told, implies that observing the Lord’s death on the first day of the week was the custom of this church.
The Scriptures furnish no other day of the week on which the church met to remember the Lord’s death, which relates to authority. Did God command the church to commemorate the death of Christ for our sins on Wednesday? No. Is there any example of any church in the New Testament gathering for that purpose on Wednesday? No. Is there anything that remotely implies it should be done on a Wednesday? No. Is there any indication that the day does not matter? No. There is only one day specified in the Scriptures in which the church honored Jesus in this way. The first day of the week is the day on which Jesus rose from the dead, as well as the day the church began and about 3,000 souls became members of the body of Christ (Acts 2:1, 41). Secular history confirms that this was the day of observance from the beginning.
The wrong elements are also being used. Jesus said that the unleavened bread of the Passover meal represented His body, and the fruit of the vine (specifically the juice of the grape) represented His blood. No fermentation (leaven) was in the bread or in the cup. These elements are pure. Any kind of crackers and bread do not fit the description. And as much as we like Dr. Pepper, neither it nor tea, nor lemonade, nor milk, nor plain water match what God authorized. “But does it really matter what day Christians remember Jesus or what is used to represent His body and blood?” One might check with Nadab and Abihu. Though they were successors of Aaron, they were destroyed for just using unauthorized fire (Lev. 10:1-2).