Communion Does More Than We Realize

One of the things Connie and I appreciate about the church we attend is that we get to receive the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. It never gets old. It does not devolve into an empty routine. We are glad for the fellowship of the local church in the expression of our common faith.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “The Lord’s Supper confers bodily fellowship and communion with the Body of the Lord whom we receive, and through it the bodily fellowship with the other members of his Body.” Christians of all denominations the world over meet around the Lord’s table in remembrance of his sacrifice for our sins.

I read about a church leader whose ministry took him around the world. He said he received Holy Communion three Sundays, one after the other, on three continents — Australia, Asia, and Europe.

“The first service was a Methodist one held in a cinema in Sydney, Australia. The second service was in the historic Carey Memorial Baptist Church in Calcutta, India. The third was in the glorious Anglican sanctuary of Westminster Abbey in London, England. … I was equally at home in each of these services, in spite of differences in tradition and distance.”

The famous British evangelist George Whitfield testified to the same sentiment. In America he sought the opportunity to worship and observe communion with evangelical Presbyterian, Baptist, and independent churches. He did this because in some of the churches of his own denomination, “Jesus Christ was not preached in the church.” He enjoyed sharing communion with brothers and sisters in Christ of other traditions because of their common faith in the gospel.

The Lord Jesus established the Supper to remind us of his sacrifice for us. His apostles knew he wanted his people to come together for this purpose on a regular basis. This is because the Lord’s supper is effective. It does something. We come together for thanksgiving, for confession,  for renewal of our faith, for restored relationships and for remembrance. More than anything, we come to the Table to meet God, to receive his love and forgiveness. In prayer we come to God. In the Lord’s Supper he comes to us.

Thomas a Kempis said, “In this Holy Sacrament God can do more than we can understand.”

What does it do? Communion pulls us, however reluctant we may be, out of our selfish individualism and isolation. It draws us into the awareness that as believers in Jesus, we are part of his spiritual Body, symbolized by the “one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:15-17).

It brings us back to the cross, reminding us of of the sacrifice that redeemed us. I think this is what it means to “discern” the Lord’s physical body (1 Corinthians 11:29). To discern is to recognize and to remember.  “Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

To whom do we proclaim it? To ourselves, to each other, and to the world. And, I might add, to the invisible realm of angels and evil spirits, we proclaim the Lord’s victory over evil and death itself.

So, it is really important that Christians meet regularly to observe communion. How regularly? The Bible gives no explicit instructions about that. But I am glad Connie and I get to do it every week.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

Come to the Table

Billy Graham related the tender story of the Scottish theologian John Duncan of Edinburgh. As Communion was observed in the church on one occasion, the elements were passed to a teenage girl. Duncan saw her turn her head and motion for the elder to take the cup away — she couldn’t drink it. John Duncan reached over, touched her shoulder, and whispered, “Take it Lassie. It’s for sinners!”

To receive the Lord’s supper is to confess that God has made provision for our sins in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The ordinance of communion is a way for us to say “yes” to Jesus, “yes” to his sacrifice, “yes” to his forgiveness, and “yes” to our ongoing fellowship with him and with his church.

Jesus specified the concrete, visible symbols of bread and wine to picture his body and blood. These common physical elements are sanctified and become what Michael Horton called “visible signs of invisible grace.” We need God’s grace for salvation and we need it to continue to be faithful to him. Communion draws us close to him.

We are weak. Our love for Christ grows tepid. We face temptations. We are susceptible to doubt, fear, and spiritual depression. Inwardly we sometimes rebel against the will of God. Like Adam and Eve, we try to hide from him. When the Father sees us in that condition, he says, “Come to my table. Take it. It’s for sinners.” Communion restores our souls.

Communion strengthens our fellowship with Christ and with his church. An old liturgy has these words, “For out of many grains one meal is ground and one bread baked, and out of many berries, pressed together, one wine flows and is mixed together, so shall we all who by true faith are incorporated in Christ together be one body.”

Communion strengthens believers’ confidence in the forgiveness of sins. It strengthens believers’ worship of Christ as the crucified, risen, glorified and returning Lord. Communion strengthens believers’ separation from the sinful practices of the world and of the devil. Communion strengthens believers’ confidence in the gospel because it proclaims the gospel of grace.

Recent months have forced the limitation of normal church activities for many people. One of the most precious and important of these is the Lord’s Supper. Those who have been unable to meet for corporate worship because of the restrictions of the pandemic, are eager to return.

They know the Lord is calling them to his table. They long to receive the bread and the cup which in a mysterious way brings us near to the One they represent. The great thinkers and teachers of the church have always felt a sense of awe before the overwhelming mystery of the Lord’s Supper. So should we.

But that should not keep us away. it is for sinners like us.

Pastor Randy Faulkner