Communion

The differences between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestantism are many and well documented

Communion is one of the largest and most important

Matthew 26:26–29 “26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.””

Today there are generally two views of communion

Sacramental View

Memorialist View

I am over simplifying, and there are more than just two, but this will give us a good starting understanding of the world we live in today

Sacramentalism

Augustine defined sacrament as a visible intangible sign of an invisible yet real grace.

Though, over the years, this physical sign drifted to become more than simply a sign.

They began to cary salvific meaning

In the Catholic Church, there are 7 sacraments

Baptism

Confirmation

Eucharist

Confession

Last Rights: Annointing of the Sick

Ordination: Holy Orders

Marriage

The role of the sacraments within Catholicism is to deliver grace to the church

One of the best analogies I’ve heard is a faucet with 7 spickets

Each sacrement delivers grace to the church in the same was as a spicket delivers water to our cup

As one write put it “Through these rites (the 7 sacraments), the grace of God is infused into the faithful, Thereby transforming their character and writing them to love and engage in good works so that they can merit salvation.”

Hopefully you see the problem with this statement

We cannot through any works we do ever hope to merit salvation

Merit is when we of our own effort and worthiness deserve a reward

In America we live in a meritocracy

The idea of a meritocracy is that you will get what you desirve

If you are hard working, diligent, and the most qualified, you will get the promotion

The problem with placing merit within the salvation equation is that man cannot do enough to ever merit salvation

We find this idea most fleshed out in Romans 3 where Paul tells us a few things

First, that no one is looking for God

Second that all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God

The fullness of this problem is that our sin has separated us from God and placed within our heart a desire to specifically to not reconcile

It is by the grace of God that we are changed, and given a new hear that leads us to seek God

When we look specifically at the Catholic Mass (Eucharist) we see this problem more pronounced

The Catholic teaching is that participating in mass gives the participant grace enough to call they to good works

They see the initial salvation as an act of God but what we would call sanctification as an cooperative act between both God and man

To put it rather bluntly, let me paraphrase it this way, Catholic doctrine says Yes God saves us through grace, but we stay saved through participating in the sacraments

For communion they then see the words of Jesus “This is my body” and “This is my blood” to be literal and thus believe Him to be both physically and divinely present in the parts of communion

They believe that the bread and wine, change form to become the body of Christ

This is called transubstantiation

As we have already seen with the idea that the sacraments are the means of grace, there is also a problem with the idea that the peices of communion become the divine and human body of Christ

First, the text doesn’ support this

When Jesus says “This is my body” and “this is my blood” A plain reading of the text tells us this was not his intended purpose

He was next to them in physical form, the disciples would not have taken His statements to mean the bread was actually His body and the wine was actually His blood

Also, it is not the bread, but the breaking of it just like it is not the wine but the pouring out that is being compared to His body and blood

He is saying, “Just as my body will be broken, this bread is broken” and “Just like my blood will be poured out, this win is poured out”

He’s pointing them forward to the Cross of Calvary during the last supper and today communion points back

Now, as is often the case, attempts to course correct tend to end up over correcting

Memorialist

Today most protestant churches hold to some for of a memorialist view of communion

This is the idea that communion is a symbolic memorial of the sacrificial work of Christ

In an attempt to course correct away from the two main ideas outlined above

1) that communion bestows grace upon the participant and thus is in at least some way required for salvation

and 2) that Christ is physically present through the changed material used for communion

The reformers began to downplay in various ways, the presence of Christ in communion

As we’ve gotten farther from the reformation, I cannot help be feel we have also gotten farther from a sacred and reverent activity to more of a light hearted routine

This is something I have been feeling convicted over during the past couple months

This was especially prominent as I read “What it means to be protestant” by Gavin Ortlund

In this great book, that I do recommend he takes on the Catholic claim that they are the one unified church and counters is by making the point that only the protestant church allows for unity in the face of theological disagreements

While he discusses some of the theological drift that occurred within the Roman Catholic Church over the past 1500 years, one of the things that did stand out that we as protestants could learn from them is to regain the reverence for God, His house, His gathering and His ordinances

As a whole we do a great job of celebrating baptism, but do we do the same for communion?

Something I want to point out to us today is the idea that a completely symbolic view of communion is foreign to the reformers, the early church and even the Scripture

Not only is communion more than merely a symbolic memorial of Christ’s work, but He is present with us during the partaking; and not in a Catholic transubstantiation way

Let’s try and get, as quickly as possibly, a proper theology of communion

Let’s start by looking at Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

Prior to sin, Adam and Eve communed with God

They spent their time with Him, in close and intimate relation with Him

One of the explicit points made in Genesis 2 is that God gave they food to eat from the garden

This implies they were at least expected to have meals in the presence of God

As Wayne Grudem puts it “Every meal that Adam and Eve ate would have been a meal of feasting in the presence of the Lord”

After sin, this ability to commune with God was broken, but not ended

Moses

When we get to Moses we see an establishment of feast days

During these feast days, Israel was require to come before the Lord and feast

Deuteronomy 14:23–26 “23 And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.”

Israel was commanded to do three things

Go to the place God Chooses

East before God

Rejoice

To God it was important that Israel spent time in communion, breaking bread, with Him

But the significance of communion for the Church doesn’t end at the Last Supper, instead it points to a coming, more perfect meal

The Marriage Supper

At the Last Supper Jesus makes the statement “I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers kingdom”

He establishes this ordinance and then promises a future meal in the kingdom to come.

This is foretold by John in the Revelation as the marriage supper of the Lamb

Revelation 19:9 “9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.””

So what we can see is communion is more than simply symbolic

Jesus is present with us

Jesus Is Present

When we partake of communion, Jesus is present in Spirit with us

Not only do we have the picture of meals with God throughout the entire history of man (past and future) but we also have his teaching on when we are gathered together

Matthew 18:20 “20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.””

This passage is speaking specifically to church discipline, but it is also applicable to anytime we come together in His name

When we come to worship, He is here

We do not just sing for our neighbor, or our own joy or even for a distant God in Heaven

We sing for our Lord who is in our midsts

This is the same for when I preach

I do not just preach for you, but for the Lord who is with us

Likewise, when we take communion we are doing it with the Lord

We are remembering and memorializing His sacrifice while He is in our midsts

So please, if you have suffered this same routine-ness within Communion that I have at times experience

If you have found yourself not seeing the Lord in what we are about to do

Please find reverence in being in the presence of our Lord who is with us in Spirit and in Truth

How We Practice

Because of the importance of communion, we ought to practice communion deliberately

We must know what we are doing and why we are doing it

Communion is to only be taken by believers

1 Corinthians 10:17 “17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

1 Corinthians 11:26 “26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Communion is a proclamation of the Death Burial and resurrection of Christ

As Wayne Grudem put’s it “when you take communion you are proclaiming, “I am taking the benefits of Christ’s death to myself””

Taking communion is symbolizing continuing the Christian life

Communion should only be taken after being baptized

If through taking communion you are proclaiming your intentions to continue in the Christian life, then it would make sense you would first partake in baptism because baptism is the symbolic beginning of the Christian Life

If you’re not baptised but want to take communion, the real problem isn’t taking communion, it is that you have yet to follow the Lords command to be baptised

The early church would not allow unbaptized to participate

Communion should always be taken after self examination

In Corinthians 11, Paul rebukes the church at Corinth for their behavior around the table

In what I believe to be one of the most eye opening passages of Scripture Paul says this:

1 Corinthians 11:27–32 “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. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”

The Lord takes this seriously

Sadly, many of us don’t

The call here isn’t to be perfect before taking communion, but the call is to be sure you are communing with Christ

So before we take the next steps and participate in communion together I want to give us a time to be in prayer with the Lord

I’m not going to guide you, but I am going to give you some questions to ask yourself and pray through

Do I believe Jesus died and rose again?

Do I believe Jesus has forgiven me?

Do I have any unresolved anger towards a brother or sister in Christ?

Do I have an un-repented sin in my life?

Matthew 26:26–29 ESV

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”