Benefitting From the Table of Christ
Understanding the Nuts and Bolts of the Supper
Good Morning!
Last week we looked at Baptism and one of the things we noted about it is that it is to be understood as a public initiation of sorts into the Kingdom of God. As 1 Cor. 7 shows us the infant (or adult for that matter) is covenantally holy internally by the work of the Holy Spirit before the actual applying of the water onto the head of the recipient. However, there is still a need for the Church to testify to this existing reality. There are benefits both to the world and to the people of God to see and be reminded of the Lord’s promises to His children. The same could be said about the next sacrament we are going to look at: The Lord’s Supper. However, unlike Baptism, this Holy gift is for professed believers alone. It is not, despite what John Wesley taught, an ordinance open to everyone regardless of ecclesiastical status. Only those approved by the Church through the oversight of the Elders may partake.
This is true primarily because the bread and the cup is an exercise of grace and praise, in which those who have been found in the fruit of the Spirit are gathered together to be nourished at the breast of peace. It confirms our present faith in Jesus Christ and our resting in His bloody sacrifice for sin. Unbelievers cannot do that and it is folly (or worse) to tell them they can. In fact the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 11 explicitly warns against it for a physical as well as a spiritual penalty comes towards those who eat and drink unworthily.
That which the ancients declaimed as cannibalism we profess as a blessed feasting on the Savior of souls. We do what we do in the congregation of the faithful so that we might not only grow in strength by our spiritual union with the Lord in the act, but so that all may know that we as a people have no other hope in this life but the assurance offered in Christ Jesus our High Priest, slain for our benefit.
It's such a beautiful and wonderful work which we take seriously for what it represents and what it does for us by the Triune God.
Here are the Catechism questions for this week:
Q. 96. What is the Lord’s supper?
A. The Lord’s supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine according to Christ’s appointment, his death is shewed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.
Q. 97. What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord’s supper?
A. It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord’s supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience; lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.
Let’s take a step back. Why do we do this thing called variously “The Lord’s Supper”, “Communion”, or if you are feeling frisky “the Eucharist”? For the same reasons we do all other things: because God says so. Jehovah knows what is best and what it is that will give us what we seek. In Sabbath School we are starting this coming Sunday a walk through Ecclesiastes. At the very beginning of that portion of the Bible Solomon declares that he has tried everything under the sun and all of it is vanity. The subtext of what he says there is that he has not tried what he had been taught by his elders, and by his father, at least not until now (go read the last few verses of Ecclesiastes 12). One of the hardest things for human beings to come to grips with is that we are not as smart and wise as we think we are. There is a purpose (obviously) behind Christ’s telling us that we must become little children in the acceptance of Himself. It shows forth our dependence upon Him, and our humble reliance on what God has revealed to us in His word.
A question that sometimes comes up when discussing the Sacraments established in the Holy Scriptures is can we fiddle with them as long as we keep the spirit of the letter? The answer is no. If God wanted us to dip the bread into the wine (gross) then He would have had us do it that way. There are plenty of examples of intinction, that is dipping the bread into something, and the only person in the Upper Room who does that is Christ when He is talking to Judas. The clear exposition of the text has Jesus doing two things. He takes the bread, breaks it, states that it is His body broken for them, they eat it, and He gives thanks. Then after that He grabs hold of the cup and passes it around illustrating for the disciples how the wine represents His blood, the blood of the Redeemer shed for sinners. The pattern is unmistakable.
We also need not fussy it up. Our Reformed Presbytery forefathers were able to hold the Supper in caves and vales while running from the tyrannical brigands seeking their heads. There is a beauty to the simplicity of the Sacraments given to us in the New Covenant. What do we need for Baptism and Communion? Water, bread, wine, a Bible, and Elders and a Minister. Everything else is unnecessary, at best. Something that we do at Bethany that has been brought to my attention (always positively) by visitors is that we do not have the pianist play during the passing out of the elements. What is the reason for this? Well, it is two-fold. First of all “mood music” can be distracting to someone trying to concentrate on the Supper. Second of all it seems as if the person playing the instrument needs to be involved in the life of the congregation as we take the bread and wine together. That is our reasoning at Bethany. All be convinced in their own mind.
Wait a minute outside of all that did I just say that we needed Elders and a Minister to properly observe the Lord’s Supper? Yes, I did and I meant to. We talked a little bit about this last week. The officers in Christ’s Church are alone given the right to steward the mysteries of God. Children, unordained men or women, are not to be serving the Lord’s people the elements of the Table. The Scriptures are clear that order is to be observed in the worship of God’s House.
So much more could be said, but I will let the link have the last word.
https://www.reformation21.org/confession/2013/07/chapter-274.php
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church