Lord's Supper/Holy Communion

[mikedsjr]

I've gone to Baptist churches since I was a little kid. During my teen years when I began to grasp understandings of the Bible I wondered when the Lord's Supper was. Even today I wonder when the next Lords Supper going to be. Quarterly feels way to long for something as precious as the Lords Supper. Why do Baptist churches wait so long? Has the meaning disappeared? Why is it so wrong to do them weekly, semimonthly or monthly? 3 month is too long.

 

[JM]

From my own reading and study I've concluded that many churches, especially those churches that find their root in the English Separatist or Puritan movement, believe that if the Lord's Supper is celebrated too often it might take on more meaning than scripture allows. The hope is to avoid the Roman or Anglican tendency to make the Lord’s Supper efficacious in and of itself like the Roman teaching of ex opere operato. At the end of the day all Protestants and Bible believing Christians usually settle the issue at the local level. I would speak to your Elders for further guidance and perhaps make a case for monthly communion. Personally, I wouldn't be all that upset if the church I attended had the Lord’s Supper every Lord’s Day, rotating between morning and evening services. I’ve made a few posts here if you are interested. Feileadh Mor.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[miamited]

Hi mike,

I was raised in disciple of Christ fellowships and we practiced communion each week. I actually appreciate the less regular practice of monthly or quarterly. Here are my reasons.

Weekly service seems to become a rote practice. Very little time is actually allowed for the solemnity of the occasion because there's a lot of other things to get done. Offering, teaching, etc. Now, in the baptist fellowships that I have attended, when the quarterly service comes about it is a very solemn service for which the entire service time is devoted to the partaking of the bread and fruit of the vine. For me, it does seem to be a more profound and searching experience of my spiritual need and remembrance of the true reality of the awesome work that my Savior did on my behalf. I spend a great deal of time praying and considering.

In the weekly service the practice was often just pass around the plate, take and eat or drink. In the quarterly service, because there is more time. The plate is passed around and you have ample time to reflect and be in prayer and remembrance of what exactly you are doing before you actually eat or drink. I prefer the greater time of reflection that the quarterly service allows.

However, the answer to your question as to 'how often' one should partake of communion, I don't believe there is any biblical instruction for time. We are only instructed to remember when we do. The regularity with which a body of believers might offer the communion seems to be something that God has left up to our hearts.

God bless you.
In Christ, Ted

 

[mikedsjr]

From my own reading and study I've concluded that many churches, especially those churches that find their root in the English Separatist or Puritan movement, believe that if the Lord's Supper is celebrated too often it might take on more meaning than scripture allows.

Thanks. Not sure I agree with the principle of this. But I can certainly see how this could be the case.

 

[JM]

Ted,

Thank you for your summary. It was very accurate as to what most Baptists and many Reformed folks believe.

To further the thread along;

What is the purpose of the Lord’s Supper?
Is there more of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, making the Lord’s Supper more solemn or earnest, than in the preaching of the Word?

My personal opinion and understanding is that we have Christ equally present in the preaching of the Word and in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Believers feed upon Christ spiritually in both. I’m not strongly opposed to quarterly services but would prefer it every Lord’s Day. When I sojourned with the Presbyterians they celebrated first and third Lord’s Day morning as well as second and fourth evening. That may be too often for some I’ll admit it allowed my family to attend the Lord’s Supper more often. Now I miss the monthly communion service due to unpreventable circumstances and end up taking it maybe twice a year.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[JM]

The Orthodox Catechism by Hercules Collins might be of some use in understanding how Baptists historically approached the Lord’s Supper.

Of the Lord’s Supper.

Lesson 29

Q. 80 How does the Lord’s Supper remind you and assure you that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all his gifts?

A. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup. With this command he gave this promise:1 First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the one who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ’s body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured-out blood.

1Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-25

Q. 81 What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink his poured-out blood?

A. It means to accept with a believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ and by believing to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.1 But it means more. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ’s blessed body.2 And so, although he is in heaven3 and we are on earth, we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone.4 And we forever live on and are governed by one Spirit, as members of our body are by one soul.5

1John 6:35, 40, 50-54

2John 6:55-56; 1 Cor. 12:13

3Acts 1:9-11; 1 Cor. 11:26; Col. 3:1

41 Cor. 6:15-17; Eph. 5:29-30; 1 John 4:13

5John 6:56-58; 15:1-6; Eph. 4:15-16; 1 John 3:24

Q. 82 Where does Christ promise to nourish and refresh believers with his body and blood as surely as they eat this broken bread and drink this cup?

A. In the institution of the Lord’s Supper:

“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”1

This promise is repeated by Paul in these words:

“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.”2

11 Cor. 11:23-26

21 Cor. 10:16-17

Lesson 30

Q. 83 Are the bread and wine changed into the real body and blood of Christ?

A. No. Just as the water of baptism is not changed into Christ’s blood and does not itself wash away sins but is simply God’s sign and assurance,1 so too the bread of the Lord’s Supper is not changed into the actual body of Christ2 even though it is called the body of Christ3 in keeping with the nature and language of sacraments.4


1Eph. 5:26; Tit. 3:5

2Matt. 26:26-29

31 Cor. 10:16-17; 11:26-28

4Gen. 17:10-11; Ex. 12:11, 13; 1 Cor. 10:1-4

Q. 84 Why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood, or the new covenant in his blood?

(Paul uses the words,a participation in Christ’s body and blood.)

A. Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that as bread and wine nourish our temporal life, so too his crucified body and poured-out blood truly nourish our souls for eternal life.1 But more important, he wants to assure us, by this visible sign and pledge, that we, through the Holy Spirit’s work, share in his true body and blood as surely as our mouths receive these holy signs in his remembrance,2 and that all of his suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and paid for our sins.3

1John 6:51, 55

21 Cor. 10:16-17; 11:26

3Rom. 6:5-11

Lesson 31

Q. 85 How does the Lord’s Supper differ from the Roman Catholic Mass?

A. The Lord’s Supper declares to us that our sins have been completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ which he himself finished on the cross once for all.1 It also declares to us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ,2 who with his very body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father3 where he wants us to worship him.4 But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests. It also teaches that Christ is bodily present in the form of bread and wine where Christ is therefore to be worshiped. Thus the Mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ and a condemnable idolatry.

1John 19:30; Heb. 7:27; 9:12, 25-26; 10:10-18

21 Cor. 6:17; 10:16-17

3Acts 7:55-56; Heb. 1:3; 8:1

4Matt. 6:20-21; John 4:21-24; Phil. 3:20; Col. 3:1-3

Q. 86 Who are to come to the Lord’s table?

A. Those who are displeased with themselves because of their sins, but who nevertheless trust that their sins are pardoned and that their continuing weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ, and who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and to lead a better life. Hypocrites and those who are unrepentant, however, eat and drink judgment on themselves.1

11 Cor. 10:19-22; 11:26-32

Q. 87 Are those to be admitted to the Lord’s Supper who show by what they say and do that they are unbelieving and ungodly?

A. No, that would dishonor God’s covenant and bring down God’s anger upon the entire congregation.1 Therefore, according to the instruction of Christ and his apostles, the Christian church is duty-bound to exclude such people, by the official use of the keys of the kingdom, until they reform their lives.

11 Cor. 11:17-32; Ps. 50:14-16; Isa. 1:11-17

Q. 88 How should this Ordinance of the Lord’s Supper be closed?

A. In singing Praises to God vocally and audibly for his great Benefits and Blessings to his Church in the shedding of the most precious Blood of his Son to take away their Sin; which Blessings are pointed out in this Sacrament. Also we find our Lord and his Disciples did close this Ordinance in singing a Hymn or Psalm; and if Christ sang, who was going to die, what cause have we to sing for whom he died, that we might not eternally die, but live a spiritual and eternal life with Father, Son, and Spirit in unexpressible Glory.1

Yours in the Lord,

j