What is the real meaning of the Lord’s Supper?

Ralph
00:00:00

Are you tired of sitting through communion feeling like you're just going through the motions while your mind wanders to that stack of unpaid bills? Perhaps you've taken the bread and the cup hundreds of times, but still struggle to connect that sacred moment with your daily financial decisions. Let me just tell you you're not alone in this struggle. Many people I've counseled at privately admitted feeling guilty about thinking about money matters during this holy time. Today, I'm going to share a powerful story about a business owner who was on the verge of bankruptcy until he discovered how the profound truths of the Lord's Supper transform, not just his spiritual life, but revolutionized his entire approach to business and money management. We're going to unpack some ancient biblical wisdom that's more relevant to your financial success than any modern business book you'll find. Stay with me because in the next few minutes, you'll discover how understanding the deeper meaning of communion could be the key to unlocking both spiritual and financial breakthroughs in your life. So whether you're struggling with business decisions, drowning in debt, or simply seeking to honor God with your finances, this episode might just be the divine appointment you've been praying for. As I said, the question we're tackling today is more than just theological, it's intensely practical. Well, I'm going to answer the question "What is the real meaning of the Lord's Supper and how can this understanding revolutionize your approach to money and business?" As I said, today we're going to discover how this sacred ordinance holds the blueprint for financial stewardship that most Christians completely miss.

Podcast Announcer
00:01:41

Welcome to the Ask Ralph Podcast, where listening to an experienced financial professional with over 30 years of experience can help you make sense of confusing questions, current headlines and industry trends about taxes, small business, financial decision making, investment strategies, and even the art of proper budgeting. Ask Ralph makes the complex simple by sharing his real world knowledge from a Christian perspective with all things financial.

Now, here's your host, Ralph Estep Jr.

Ralph
00:02:09

Well, thank you for joining me today. I know it sounds like I'm going to get a little deep today, but I'm going to talk about some very practical advice about a topic with many Christians just take for granted. Now if you missed yesterday's show, we talked all about using your 401k or your retirement plan to purchase a home. And I provided you some strategies to save you thousands of dollars and still be able to protect your retirement future. So if you missed that, I'm going to encourage you to go check it out.

Now listen, today I've got a great question from James, comes from Tennessee and he said this, "Ralph, I've been wrestling with something that's been keeping me up at night. Every first Sunday when we take communion at church, I find myself going through the motions while my mind drifts to my mounting business debts and financial struggles. As a small business owner trying to honor God with my finances, I feel guilty that I can't seem to connect the sacred meaning of the Lord's Supper with my daily business decisions and money management. Last month, the truth is I had to choose between tithing and paying my suppliers, and I felt completely lost. I know the Lord's supper should be transforming how I view everything in my life, including my finances, but I'm struggling to bridge that gap. Can you help me understand how this sacred ordinance should be shaping my approach to money, to business relationships and financial decisions?"

James, let me start by saying I hear you, brother. I totally hear you. And I can feel that emotion and that spiritual struggle you're facing. And I understand the practical concerns of that as a small business owner myself, it's tough. And this really ties to the core goal of the Ask Ralph show in general.

And that's mastering your finances while growing in your faith. So that's exactly what we're going to talk about today. Now as you know, this show thrives on questions. But today, I want to ask you some questions. I've built a listener survey, and I want your honest opinion about the show. And listen, it's only going to take five minutes.

I promise you. It won't take you all a whole lot of time, just five minutes. And here's the best part. If you enter into the survey, you'll be entered into a drawing to get a $250 Amazon gift card. You'll find the survey at askralphpodcast.com/survey. And listen. There's going to be impact here. Your answers are going to shape the show moving forward.

Now I need your survey complete by December 10th at midnight, because we're going to do a drawing on December the 11th. And I'd love to give you that $250 Amazon gift card. And I'd love to hear from you and give me some true honest feedback about the show. Again, that's at askralphpodcast.com/survey.

You know James, your question leads us directly to a great verse as we think about the Lord's Supper and we look at the implications for our lives, including our finances. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 11:28-29. And it says this. And a lot of times you'll hear this in service if you have a church that does communion either weekly, like our church, we do it monthly the first Sunday of each month. But a lot of times you'll hear this verse. And like I said, 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 28 and 29. And it says this.

"Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves." Well that Bible verse certainly says it all, doesn't it? So let's get to it today.

A few months ago, I was working with a Christian business owner, just like you and he was struggling with mounting debts. And he was thinking about those ethical decisions he needs to make in his company. And he's like a lot of you, he was trying to balance these two worlds, just like I do.

I face this myself just like many of us. This guy attended church regularly, participated in communion. But he said, he said, sometimes Ralph, I feel disconnected from what it truly means. And I can still recall one meeting him and I had. We're sitting there talking about church from the previous Sunday, and we started talking about communion. And I shared that

I thought understanding this idea of what communion really is. The Lord's supper really is could revolutionize his approach to business and his finances. Kind of looked at me like I was crazy, but it was during these discussions that I share what I feel are the profound lessons we learned from the Lord's supper. And I want to share those with you today. So let's discuss those together. The first thing. This is the central part of it.

And that's remembrance and gratitude. Think about it. Just as the bread represents Christ's broken body, it reminds us that everything we have comes through sacrifice. When we remember Christ's provision, we're called to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness," knowing that all else will follow. And listen. This perspective transformed him.

I want to say his name is Tom. That's my client. It transformed Tom's approach from anxiety. Cause he was one of these guys that suffered from anxiety. Listen, I'm right there with them. But it transformed that approach from anxiety about finances and he started thinking about the gratitude. That true gratitude from God's daily provision. You know, like Proverbs 21:20 teaches us "The wise store up choice food and oil, but fools gulp theirs down," and it really shows us the importance of responsible stewardship.

So like I said, that's number one. The main component of the Lord's supper, remembrance and gratitude. Let's look at number two. Which is examination and accountability. Now Paul warns us about eating and drinking unworthily, calling for self-examination. Think about that for a second. Examine yourself. A lot of times in church, the pastor whoever's doing the communion will say that, you know, let's take a minute to examine ourselves. And that can truly extend to our financial lives as well.

We got to regularly examine our business practices and our financial decisions. And what my client Tom did is he implemented monthly financial communion meetings. And in those meetings, he would review his business practices and say, do those match up with biblical principles? Am I doing the right thing? He also looked at his tithing and giving commitments. Is he doing what the Lord commanded him to do? As part of that and his business, he evaluated employee treatment and supplier relationships. And last but not least, he considered his marketplace witness because listen, you might not be a pastor of a church but you are a missionary even in your business.

So you've got to consider are you being a good witness in your marketplace? So that's number two. That said, examination and accountability. Let's look at number three. A lot of people use this term, but it's the covenant relationship. And think about that cup. That cup of communion represents the new covenant.

That's a relationship. It's not just rules. The Lord wasn't given us, you must do this, this and this. It wasn't about that. It wasn't just rules. It was this relationship. Think about the book of Isaiah 41:10 reminds us, "Fear not, for I am with you; I will strengthen you and I will help you." It's not about just rules. It's not about this order to just, you know, drink this wine, eat this bread.

It's all about that relationship that we have with Christ. So if we extrapolate that out what does that covenant relationship include? What should it do? If we're thinking about business, it should affect how we handle business partnerships. It should affect our approach to debt. Look at Proverbs 22:7. It should reach our treatment of employees and customers. And most importantly, our view of wealth and how we accumulate that wealth. It's at covenant relationship. Let's look at number four. And then I have here community and kingdom impact. So think about this. The early church back in the book of Acts chapter 2:44-45. The early church shared everything in common. That was the point of that whole time, when the church started to come together. And you can put that into today's model and look at it from a business side.

And let me ask you some tough questions. Ask yourself these tough questions as well. Look at fair treatment of employees. Look at responsible sourcing, environmental stewardship, and community investment. When you were examining your business, when you're examining yourself, think about it for a second.

Are you treating your employees fairly? Are you being responsible in sourcing stuff? Do you have a responsible stewardship to the environment? I'm not going to go down that, a lot of people have different opinions about that, but there are certain things you can do without getting crazy about it. And are you looking to invest in the community? Because I think that's a big part of it. That's as community and kingdom impact. And number five.

And last on my list is trust and divine guidance. That's all part of this communion, this Lord's supper. And think about it. Proverbs 3:5-6 teaches us to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." That's pretty brazen if you think about it. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, don't lean on your own understanding. And that's part of this communion thing as well.

So, what does that look like in business? What does that look like in finance? Well, this trust should manifest in, here's the thing. Seeking God's wisdom in your business decisions. How many times do you pray about a tough business decision or maybe it's just the everyday business decisions. Do you start your day by saying Lord you've given me this opportunity. You've given me this business. You know, help me be a light to others, help me live out what your will is for my life. And that goes right along with practicing ethical business operations.

You know, I've said this in episodes before. If you're lying, you're cheating, you're stealing and acting like a scoundrel to people, examine yourself. Are you really living out the mission that God has given you? Yeah, you might be successful financially. But are you breaking down relationship? What kind of witness are you to others? Which leads me to the next thing.

And that's maintaining integrity in financial reporting. And I might step on some toes here but think about this. If you're being dishonest in the way you're reporting your taxes and listen, this is what I do for a living. I'm not saying don't take advantage of the rules that are set, but if you're doing things unethically, if you're not being, having integrity in your financial reporting, are you really listening to that trust and that divine guidance? And last but not least it's that thought of balancing profitability with positive social impact.

Like I said, I could work with you to make you the biggest, most successful scoundrel in the world. But there's going to come that day when you stand before the Lord in judgment and he's going to say to you. Ralph, what did you do with what I gave you? Did you make an impact?

So you might be asking Ralph, you've lost your mind. How do you really think applying these principles can affect you? So I'm going to tell you how it affected my client. And his transformation, let me tell you, it was remarkable. Because what he did was he really focused on the five things we just talked about. And he saw amazing results.

Let me tell you a few things that he did. He restructured his debt using biblical wisdom. He wasn't going to be a slave to the lender anymore. He really looked at debt and said, do I really need this debt, are these things I need to be spending money on. Another he did was he looked internally and he said he implemented fair wage practices.

He started treating people with fairness, his employees, because he saw them as assets, not liabilities. He saw them as fellow people that he could demonstrate his Christian walk to. Another thing he did. And like I said, you know, I do this show because there are so many things that tie together.

A lot of people say, well, Ralph, you shouldn't talk about faith and finance. That's weird. You don't talk about that. But these things tie together. So another thing he did was he created an emergency fund, and he followed Proverbs 21:20. I encourage you. There's your homework. Go look that up.

He had that emergency fund so he would be a good steward of the resources. Which led him to be able to establish a generous giving program. He said, Ralph, I want to make an impact on the community. The best way I can do that is to develop this generous giving program. Which led to him building stronger relationship with employees and his suppliers.

And here's the big takeaway. The most significant change wasn't in his balance sheet. You know what he has and what he owes. But let me tell you, that improved dramatically. But the biggest, most significant change was in his understanding of how the sacred intersects with the secular. That's what the show's all about. The sacred intersecting with the secular. He realized that the Lord's supper wasn't just a Sunday ritual. But it was a pattern for everyday business life. So when he's facing tough decisions, he would return to these communion principles. Let me go over those again. Remembrance. Ask yourself the question, what am I grateful for in this situation? Examination.

Does this decision I'm going to make honor God? You've got to ask yourself those things. I don't care whether you're just an individual or a small business owner. Start with that remembrance. What am I grateful for in this situation? Move on to that examination. Does this decision honor God? And then number three, covenant. How does this reflect my relationship with Christ?

Ask yourself those difficult questions. Community is the next one. How does this impact others? How does this decision reflect my relationship with Christ? That's the covenant part. And in the community part, how does it impact others? And finally that trust component. And this one is crucial. Ask yourself. Am I leaning on my own understanding or am I trusting in God's wisdom?

Those are tough things, but think about those things. Every time you've got that difficult financial or business decision to make, think about remembrance, examination, covenant, community, and trust and ask yourself those questions. Now I'm going to share some action steps with you that you can take today, but these principles will impact your life as well.

But first I want to ask you this. Are you one of these people that's losing sleep wondering how you'll afford everything on your holiday list? Listen. Holiday season is stressful. You don't know how many people I talk to on a daily basis that this creates so much stress in their lives. Maybe you're a person that's tired of starting every new year, buried under a mountain of holiday debt.

Yeah. You had a great Christmas. But January, February and March are trying to get the shovel out. You know, get rid of the snow, if you live in a place where it snows and also, try to get through that debt. Well think about, do you want to create that magical Christmas memory without the financial stress that usually comes with them? I mean, how many holidays have you gotten through and how we had a great time, but there was so much stress because now I got these credit cards to pay. Well, I've got a solution for you.

I want you to discover peace of mind with my free, I did this guide, it's called "Surviving the Holidays Without Going Broke." It seems very simple, but in this guide, and it's not a big guide, it won't take you long to go through it. But you're going to learn a proven budget system that actually works. Nobody likes to start with budgets.

I'm going to call it an intentional spending plan, but in this guide, I'm going to talk about how to make that happen. Next thing I'm going to talk about is smart shopping strategies to slash your costs. I'm going to give you some real ideas of some shopping strategies to slash your holiday costs. Then the next thing we're going to move on is to wait to create magical memories without maxing out credit cards.

There are ways to do this. It doesn't take money to create those magical memories. I'm going to challenge you because if you think about it, the stuff you got for Christmas last year, do you remember what it was? But I guarantee you can remember magical memories around the holidays from when you were just a little person.

Another thing I want to talk about in the guide is tips for teaching kids gratitude because we live in this gimme more generation, this gimme more world. I want to give you some concrete ideas of how to teach kids that gratitude. And finally, I've round out the whole thing with the main center purpose of this in is how to keep faith and family at the center of your celebration. So I'm really going to encourage you to download the guide.

Don't let January credit card bill steal that holiday joy. Download your free guide. Now you get it at askralphpodcast.com/christmas. And I want to encourage you, make this your most meaningful and dare I say, affordable holiday season yet. Your stress-free holiday season starts here. Go to askralphpodcast.com/christmas. Now here are those action steps I promised. If you listen to me, you know I say the ideas, the intentions are great, but if you don't put them into action, they're basically useless.

So here's some action steps. Number one. Create a communion business review. You might be saying, Ralph, what are you talking about, dude? It's a monthly assessment of your business practices against biblical principles. Those questions I walked you through. Second thing. Establish a gratitude base budget. And allocate resources based on thanksgiving. Those things that you are grateful for. It will change the whole dynamic of that budget, and it'll move away from restriction and really into a place of blessing.

Which leads me to number three. Develop a giving strategy reflects Christ's sacrifice. The whole point of communion, if you think about it, is recognizing and memorializing that sacrifice. He went to the cross for you. He went to the cross for me. He did it for all of us. That was his sacrifice. So, how can you reach that giving strategy that reflects that sacrifice? Another thing I'm going to encourage you to do.

Number four is form an accountability group with other Christian business owners. You don't have to be alone in this. There are other people who are facing the same challenges you're facing. Why not look to partner with them, you know, maybe reach out to your church community to say, Hey. Do we have Christian business owners here in the church? Wouldn't you like to start a little men's ministry or something like that? I think that's a great thing.

And number five. And if you take away nothing else I've said today. Schedule regular prayer and meditation times for business decisions. You don't have to live in two separate worlds. Your business and your faith should be connected. But it all starts with that regular prayer and meditation. Before you make those businesses, even if they seem minuscule, like I start my day every day on my way over here to the office here on the pharmacy.

God, what do you have for me today? Let me be a light to others in my business and I, and I'm not perfect. Look, I make mistakes. But I start with that and I meditate on, am I living out what Christ wants me to live out in my business?

And in the end, the understanding of the Lord's supper transforms it from a mere ritual. It doesn't, it shouldn't be a ritual. It should be a powerful template for business and financial success rooted in that faith. Now tomorrow, we're going to discuss an equally important topic. Very secular here, but it's important because I want to talk to you about what percentage of your salary should be going into retirement.

A lot of people ask me that question and I'm going to give you some practical insights that will help secure your financial future. It's all about that financial stewardship. And as I close, remember this. My passion is to help you achieve financial success. I want to see you and I want to help you. I want to come alongside of you and help you live out your dreams and grow in your faith. Cause I know working together, we can master your finances from a Christian perspective. So as I always say, stay financially savvy out there and may God bless you abundantly.

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