The Blessing of Communion
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What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.
And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.
But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.”
And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”
This morning, we are doing something a little different. I felt it important to take this Sunday and learn from scripture what communion is all about. While many of you know quite well about the procedure of communion, I must assume there are at least some here who have never had an in-depth teaching on communion.
My hope is that by the time we take communion together this morning, we will have a more full understanding and appreciation of what it is that we are doing when we take communion together. For those who have never had a more in-depth teaching on communion, this will help you not only to have a better understanding and appreciation, but also to provide you with ways to help you think about and prepare for, as well as reflect afterward on this sacrament.
For those who feel they know all about communion, some of you have taken it hundreds of times, do not allow yourself to drift into daydreams because you think you do not need this teaching. Especially if you are now thinking, what can I learn about communion now, when I have been doing it for so long? Let me make a fair guess that some of you, like me, may at times forget to take communion seriously.
Some of you, like me, may even be guilty of not preparing your heart at times, and simply going through the motions. That can happen with anything we do that become routine. So let us take this time and as the Lord to help us to better understand His Table. Let us commit, in this short time, to better appreciate our Lord and this wonderful gift he has given us, the gift of communion.
Our texts will be from 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and 11
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.
For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,
for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.
For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.
What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when 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 also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.
Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.
But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—
if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
Big Idea: Communion is a blessing to believers
We will look at
The Reasons or symbols of Communion: Bread, blood, it is a declaration, it is a participation
Necessary components of Communion (aside from the bread and cup): A unified church, Patience & generosity, regularity, taken in a worthy manner, and with self-reflection
First, a brief understanding of what a sacrament is: Sacraments Ritual actions undertaken by the Christian Church that are understood as visible signs of invisible divine grace.
Schlesinger, Eugene R. “Sacraments.” Ed. John D. Barry et al. The Lexham Bible Dictionary 2016: n. pag. Print.
From the Belgic Confession: “We believe that our good God, mindful of our crudeness and weakness, has ordained sacraments for us to seal his promises in us, to pledge his good will and grace towards us, and also to nourish an sustain our faith. He has added these to the Word of the gospel to represent better to our external senses both what he enables us to understand by His Word and what he does inwardly in our heart, confirming in us the salvation he imparts to us.
For they are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. So they are not empty and hollow signs to fool and deceive us, for their truth is Jesus Christ, without whom the would be nothing.
Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments that Christ our Master has ordained for us. There are only two: the sacrament of baptism and the Holy Supper of Jesus Christ.”
So to help us in our own weakness, God has provided us these symbols, or sacraments, by which we have a powerful witness and reminder of the object and means of the saving faith we hold. And when we participate in these sacraments, there is a real and effective, special grace that God provides to us when we participate with honesty and humility.
The Westminster confession says: “sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ, and his benefit; and to confirm our interest in Him: as also, to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the church, and the rest of the world; and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according to his Word. There is, in every sacrament, a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sin and the thing signified whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other. The grace which is exhibited in or by the sacraments rightly used, is not conferred by any power in them; neither doth the efficacy of a sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer it: but upon the work of the Spirit, and the word of institution, which contains, together with a precept authorizing the use thereof, a promise of benefit to worthy receivers.”
This is an overview of what a sacrament is, and communion then is one of the sacraments, the other being Christian baptism.
So let us take a look at the symbols and reasons for communion. For many of you this will be a sort of review, yet take care you don’t flippantly gloss over these things. It is vital for us to take this seriously, and this means to take care to shut out of our mind other things, and focus on what the meaning of communion is.
The first symbol is the bread, and the second is the cup which is a symbol and reminder of Christ’s body and His shed blood on the cross. This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink of it, in remembrance of me. For both the symbol of the bread and of the cup, it is helpful for us to remember where and when Jesus first commanded this ordinance. It was the passover meal, and any bread would have been unleavened. The passover meal was a community meal. No one ever was to take it alone. A larger family would be their own small community that would take the passover together. Smaller families would come together and have the meal. Furthermore, it was a very significant occasion, a time to recall the Passover, when the Israelites were to put blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would spare them the plague of the killing of the first born, the plague that finally brought the hard-hearted Pharoah to let the Israelites go.
This was a command for all Hebrews, for all of their generations, to keep the Passover, or Seder, meal. Jesus and his disciples, then, were at this meal together, when Jesus began to teach through the simple elements of bread and wine. The bread and wine tell a parable of sorts. Jesus himself made the comparison. It is unnecessary to take the position of what is called transubstantiation, such as believed by the Roman Catholic Church and also other denominations. Transubstantiation is an understanding that the bread and wine become the actual blood and flesh of Jesus. The Westminster confession calls transubstantiation repugnant to scripture as well as to common sense and reason. They say it overthrows the nature of the sacrament and it is the cause of manifold superstitions and gross idolatries.
Nor does the scripture make necessary consubstantiation, which is not quite as bad as transubstantiation, but instead says the body and blood of Christ and the bread and wine co-exist with each other. Luther took this view. But rather than taking either of these two views, we understand that the bread and wine or grape juice remain bread and grape juice. When we take communion, we must not think of ourselves as offering up Jesus as a sacrifice, or offering him in any way to the Father, as some false teachings suppose.
Instead, it is a spiritual exercise. We spiritually feed upon Christ crucified. We receive the benefits of his death. He is spiritually present when we do this ordinance as faithful believers.
At the Seder meal, which was full of reminders of the slavery in Egypt, and the Exodus, but most importantly the faithfulness of God, at this meal, Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, or communion. From one special occasion full of symbolism, Jesus gave a much better one. Scripture tells us that all of these Old Testament statutes and rituals and feasts were but a shadow, but the substance belongs to Christ.
So as many wonderful allusions are found in the Seder meal to the faithfulness of God and His enduring promise, Communion is something very much better, just as Jesus was better than Moses, as the book of Hebrews makes so abundantly clear.
In addition to the symbolic reasons regarding the body and blood of Christ, Communion is also a declaration. 1Cor11.26
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Why is it important to declare His death over and over? Well, for one thing, it is a critical part of the gospel message. Also, throughout church history many heresies have popped up that deny some critical element of the gospel, including those who have said that Jesus never really died. Jesus knew this would happen, so he helps us to increase our faith through communion.
Who are we declaring it to? Well, mostly to ourselves and the other believers in our local church. Of course, people may be here as guests and witness this, and people may watch online, but this is primarily something we declare inwardly to ourselves as we reflect, and I will be talking more about that in a while, but also as those around us, including our precious children, witness us doing it, we continue to declare this important truth of the gospel: Jesus died on the cross.
Communion is also an act, as already mentioned, of participation. Really, it is a participation in the community of believers, as I already mentioned, but more than that, it is a participation in the very death of Jesus. When we take communion, we are participating in what he did on the cross.
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
In these two verses, Paul says much about participation. We participate in his death and sacrifice on the cross, but also we partake as many who are one body. Again we see the common descriptor of the church: one body. This is the body of Christ living in our world, that is the church.
So this may be an entirely new concept to you, that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all his benefits.
The Heidelberg Catechism asks this question:
75. How does the holy supper remind and assure you that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all his benefits?
Answer: In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken break and to drink this cup in remembrance of him. With this command come these promises: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured our for me on the cross.
Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of him 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.
In other words, when you take communion, you ought to have such a faith in your redemption because of the cross as though it is absolutely and really real, just as the elements you hold in your hand that represent it are real.
So Communion is a participation, both participation in the community of saints, and also a real participation in the death of Christ, and therefore a real reminder of the promise that because Christ was raised form the dead, so will all the faithful be certainly and most assuredly raised to life with him. In fact, the Heidelberg Catechism is not yet done giving us additional blessed assurance:
79: Why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood, or the new covenant in his blood, and Paul use the words, a participation in Christ’s body and blood?
Answer: Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that just as bread and wine nourish the temporal life, so too his crucified body and poured-out blood are the true food and drink of our soul for eternal life.
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, and that all of his suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and made satisfaction for our sins.
Brothers and Sisters! This is an amazing truth! That we, when we take communion together, truly and really participate in the suffering and death of Jesus, as though we were truly there with him, because in a spiritual sense, we were there with him.
So the reasons or symbols of communion are these: the bread as a symbol of Christ’s body, given for us. The cup a cymbol and reminder of Christ’s blood spilled for us. Communion is also a declaration whereby we declare his death each time we take it together, and finally, it is a participation. A community observance and real communion with Jesus as His body, and also a real participation in His suffering and obedience.
Now let us consider some necessary components of communion.
Necessary components of Communion (aside from the bread and cup): A unified church, Patience & generosity, regularity, taken in a worthy manner, and with self-reflection
A unified church. A unified church is one that is present together. The reformers rejected the idea of private communion or masses. They believed that church is lived out in community. This experience is one that must be done in person together with the church. It is impossible to say you had the Lord’s Supper all by yourself at dinner last night. Unless the church is gathered, you cannot have true communion. And while it is in person with the congregation of believers, that congregation must also be united. You should never take communion if you are in conflict or turmoil to the point where you have not confessed your faults in the matter or been able to forgive someone in the church that has wronged you.
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,
From these two verses, we see that Paul has in mind a unified church. We can conclude this because he has heard something, a bad report, about the Corinthian church. There are divisions among you. Now Paul says I believe it in part, so it may be that he assumes the report he heard was exaggerated, yet he knows a lot about human nature, so he realizes that there must be some truth in it. Now, in a sense, Paul realizes that divisions are going to be present in almost every sphere of human interaction, and the church being made up of humans is not completely free of divisions, so he says this is one way of figuring out who is genuine.
for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
Despite the fact that divisions can in fact reveal who is who, this is not the ideal. Paul is at the same time acknowledging what is present, and yet pointing out that a problem exists that needs to be worked out. And that problem is that there are factions, and that they are lacking the next necessary component, patience & generosity.
When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.
For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.
What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
This is the earliest account of an actual communion service that we have from the early church. It seems they would have a love feast in conjunction with the Lord’s Supper. Probably this is not too different than our pot-luck meals, although they would not have had the great variety of dishes one would find here at Oasis Church. However, there may have been a much greater disparity in what someone could afford to bring.
Some people had a lot to bring, and some nothing or next to nothing. Not only that, but the poor and those who were servants or slaves in the early church may have gotten there later than the others because they were still working. And when they arrived, the good food was all eaten, and if anything was left it was not much. And this goes against the ideal for the church, which would be that there be great patience, whereby some were not willing to wait to eat until everyone had arrived, and along with this patience, a generosity that would bring those with more means to think more kindly about those less fortunate.
(Illustration: waiting for the always-late family)
Now, we may not have the exact parallel here today, but what other patience may we be lacking towards others? Do we lose our patience with those who struggle more in their faith? With those who have trouble figuring out their priorities? With those who need to spend a lot of time sharing about the difficulties they are going through? What things do we have trouble being generous with? Our time? Our expertise in certain areas? Our friendship?
So a necessary component of communion is patience and generosity, and we must examine ourselves to see that when we come to our Lord’s table, it would not be said of us that we don’t consider others.
Necessary components of Communion (aside from the bread and cup): A unified church, Patience & generosity, regularity, taken in a worthy manner, and with self-reflection
Regularity: 1Cor11.26
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
How often is “as often”? The bible does not say specifically how often we should do this. I knew a man who advocated at our previous church that we do this weekly. He had come from a church that had communion at every service. Others say once a month plus Good Friday. There will be different opinions on this, but we must get along even if we do disagree on how often we should have communion. The timing or frequency of it is not a primary issue, but we should be sure we have some amoutn of regularity.
Next, we must take it in a worthy manner and the self-reflection that helps us to do so. 1Cor11.27
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.
Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.
Scripture says we must examine ourselves. And I will return to the Catechisms for a moment, because here they give us some wonderful counsel and encouragement:
Heidelberg Catechism #81 Who should come to the Lord’s table?
Answer: Those who are displeased with themselves because of their sins, but who nevertheless trust that their sins are pardoned and that their remaining 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 judgement on themselves.
So we must not avoid the Lord’s table because we have sinned, but we must confess and turn from those sins, and trust that we are forgiven. 1John1.8-9
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And while we do not interrogate each person taking communion, we must still warn that if someone is not a believer, or is ungodly, then it dishonors God’s covenant and brings wrath on the entire congregation, which is what Paul is really getting at in our passage. So if the church is aware of an unbeliever or unrepentant sinner, we are duty-bound to exclude them from communion.
As we get to end of this teaching and to prepare our hearts to receive communion, let me offer some further encouragement to you. I am going to use the Westminster Catechism once again. Now, I want to be clear. The Catechisms I have referred to are just ways to summarize certain aspects of our mutual faith. The Catechism itself is not the Bible, but it attempts to put certain teachings of the Bible in a more understandable form. You should always check anything you hear taught, whether form this pulpit or from any other Christian church, against scripture, which is the only source.
I don’t normally refer to things like this, as you know. But I find for this particular topic much beauty and help in the language of these catechisms. They were thoughtfully composed by church councils, mostly from the reformation, and have been used to summarize our faith.
I want to close by speaking to the discouraged among us, as well as to all of us about how we prepare for this time of communion, and then I will close with some words about what our duties are after we take communion. We ought to think carefully, to pray, both before and after this precious time, and each time.
Westminster Larger Catechism #171: How are they that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to prepare themselves before the come in?
They that receive the Lord’s Supper are, before they come, to prepare themselves thereunto, by examining themselves of their being in Christ, of their sins and wants (Shortcomings); of the truth and measure of their knowledge, faith, repentance; love to God and the brethren, charity to all men, forgiving those that have done them wrong; of their desires after Christ, and of their new obedience; and by renewing the exercise of these graces, by serious meditation, and fervent prayer.
So all of us are responsible to do these acts of self-examination. But what are you to do if you are having some doubts, some crises of faith, some loss of assurance in your salvation?
Westminster Larger Catechism #172: May one who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation, come to the Lord’s Supper?
Answer: One who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, may have true interest in Christ, though he be not yet assured thereof; and in God’s account hath it, if he be duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it, and unfeignedly desires to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity: in which case (because promises are made, and this sacrament appointed, for the relief even of weak and doubting Christians) he is to bewail his unbelief, and labor to have his doubts resolved; and, so doing, he may and ought to come to the Lord’s Supper, that he may be further strengthened.
What amazing and good news this is! Your faith need not be perfect to come to the Lord’s table. Otherwise, no one could come. Yet if you desire to be found in Christ, and to leave your sins behind, then you must simply confess this shortcoming, “I believe, help my unbelief!” and take this, trusting in the wonderful grace of Jesus Christ, and his presence here among us, and by so doing may your faith be strengthened.
As we now prepare to take our communion, let us consider what the Larger Catechism says is required of all that receive this:
It is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, that, during the time of the administration of it, with all holy reverence and attention they wait upon God in that ordinance, diligently observe the sacramental elements and actions, heedfully discern the Lord’s body, and affectionatel meditate on his death and sufferings, and thereby stir up themselves to a vigorous exercise of their graces; in judging themselves, and sorrowing for sin; in earnest hungering and thirsting after Christ, feeding on him by faith, receiving of his fullness, trusting in his merits, rejoicing in his love, giving thanks for his grace; in renewing of their covenant with God, and love to all the saints.
Communion:
And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him.
And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves.
For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.
For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”
And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.
After communion:
Larger Catechism #175: What is the duty of Christians, after they have received the Lord’s Supper?
Answer: The duty of Christians, after they have received the Lord’s Supper, is seriously to consider how they have behaved themselves therein, and with what success; if they find quickening and comfort, to bless God for it, beg the continuance of it, watch against relapses, fulfill their vows, and encourage themselves to a frequent attendance on that ordinance: but if they find no present benefit, more exactly to review their preparation for to, and carriage at, the sacrament; in both which if they can approve themselves to God and their own consciences, they are to wait for the fruit of it in due time: but, if they see they have failed in either, they are to be humbled, and to attend upon it afterwards with more care and diligence.