We’ve arrived at the final question that this booklet will tackle. This may be one that you have struggled to understand in terms of how a church practices Communion. Take note that the answer to this question does not include any mention of whether a specific person is worthy to receive Communion. The answer to question 4 is different and separate from the answer to question 3. The goal remains that we would allow the practice of Communion at Crosspointe to be shaped by God’s Word rather than by our own personal opinions and emotions so that as a church we can be faithful to the desires and intentions of Jesus.
Matthew 26:29 was part of the answer to why a church should practice Communion. We begin with that verse to see how the Bible helps us to answer the question of who should commune together. When Jesus instituted or initiated the Lord’s Supper, He said that He would again share this meal with His followers. Jesus is referring to the eternal feast that all Christians will enjoy after He returns and the dead are resurrected and God’s Kingdom is fully realized. As mentioned in question 1, the meal that Jesus has given to the church provides a foretaste of the fellowship that will define our relationships with one another and with God when sin and death are no more. At that time, there will no longer be any questions about God. He will be fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12) so there will be no differences in what is believed and confessed about Him as there are now. God’s desire is to bring that eternal reality into the present time through the church’s practice of the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is the church’s greatest moment of community, fellowship, oneness, and unity. The goal that the church should strive to attain in Communion is a maximization of oneness and unity. In other words, the church gathered at the altar to receive the Lord’s Supper should aim to resemble the church gathered at the eternal feast because it is that eternal reality that God wishes to create in our midst.
Again and again, the Bible calls for unity and oneness among the church. In John 17:20-23 Jesus prays on the night before His death that all who would believe in Him would be one. The unity of the church is further referred to as one flock with one shepherd (John 10:16), one body (Romans 12:5 and 1 Corinthians 12:12), one loaf of bread (1 Corinthians 10:17), and one body, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:3-5). Unity is God’s desires for His people even now. In 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul writes; I appeal to you brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but be united in the same mind and the same judgment. Paul does not call for unity because it would be beneficial for the church in his opinion. Rather, he reveals the intention of Jesus who is the Lord of the church: that there would be no divisions among us. Paul brings this discussion of unity into the practice of Communion in 1 Corinthians 11:17-18. He tells the church in Corinth that when they come together to share the Lord’s Supper they do so not for the better but for the worse because there are divisions among them. To get a broader picture you can also look at God’s instructions for the Passover Meal. Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper while He was celebrating the Passover with His disciples. In the Christian Church, the Lord’s Supper has taken the place of the Passover. But even with the Passover, God was concerned about who shared the meal with one another as is evident in Exodus 12:43-49 and Ezra 6:19.
The issue of oneness and unity for the church boils down to what it believes about God, what may be referred to as the doctrine or confession or teaching of the church. In this belief, the desire of God is that we would be united in mind and judgment. In the Bible’s first description of the life of the church, the teaching which has been passed down from the apostles (those who were eyewitnesses to the life and death and resurrection of Jesus) is the first thing mentioned. It is important to notice tin Acts 2:42, the church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching – singular! When the Bible talks about the doctrine of the church it does so in the singular. Examples include 1Timothy 1:10 and 4:16, 2 Timothy 4:3, and Titus1:9 and 2:1. The Christian faith is not a set of individual teachings from which we pick and choose the ones we agree with and the ones we disagree with. The unity that God desires includes the belief about who Jesus was and what He accomplished for us. But it includes more. God desires that we would be unified in the answer to these 4 questions and what we believe about Communion. God desires that we are unified in our belief about baptism and the Bible; about Creation and the return of Jesus and everything in between.
What this means in terms of practicing Communion at Crosspointe is that we should begin with and continue in the desire for a unified confession of faith. God’s desire for unity should be our desire and it should be reflected in our life together as church. To be faithful in this, our practice will be to gather at the altar to receive the Lord’s Supper with those who through membership in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and by personal profession of faith have demonstrated an agreement in doctrine and desire for doctrinal unity. As with the other sections, please don’t hesitate to ask me your follow-up questions.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Who should receive Communion?
It is tempting to think that if God delivers forgiveness through Communion, then He (and we) should want everyone to receive the Lord’s Supper. However, that line of thinking does not reflect the teaching of Scripture or the historical practice of the church. The Lord’s Supper is a meal that Jesus gave to the church and intended for people who profess the faith of the church. It is not meant to convert someone to the faith who is an unbeliever, but rather to strengthen and sustain the faith of a believer. A passage from 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 demonstrates the seriousness of this question and helps us with the answer.
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and the 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 drink judgment on himself.
Notice the implications. It is possible to take the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner and, by doing so, profane what God is doing and giving through the meal. The word “profane” denotes a guiltiness or accountability for sin. Verse 29 also states that an unworthy reception will bring God’s judgment upon the recipient so that His anger or wrath is experienced rather than His grace.
In this passage, the Bible says that those who receive Communion should examine themselves. This self-examination will reveal that none of us are or ever can be worthy on our own to participate in the Lord’s Supper. Sin has made us unworthy and how we pray or how good we are in the week leading up to Communion or how focused we are when we take Communion… none of these things make us worthy to approach the altar. Our worthiness comes solely through our connection with Jesus through faith. What God gives you through the Lord’s Supper, He gives solely by grace, not because of anything you have done. Worthy reception thus begins with a self-examination that shows our sin and causes us to cling to who we are in Jesus as forgiven and loved children of God.
1 Corinthians 11 also indicates that those who receive Communion should do so while “discerning the body.” This means two things. That we understand what we receive; that we believe that by the power of God’s Word we are truly receiving the body and the blood of Jesus in a sacramental or mysterious way. In addition to understanding what God is giving, to discern the body also means that you understand what God is doing. You believe that God is fulfilling His promise that the bread/body and the wine/blood are given for the forgiveness of sins and that in the meal He is doing that for you.
Our worthiness to participate in the Lord’s Supper is not our own, but rather has been credited to us through faith by God’s grace and is rooted solely in the life and the death of Jesus. When we come to the altar in faith and seeking forgiveness, we also come with a repentant heart. To repent means to turn away from sin and to turn toward God. In other words, we sincerely desire that our lives would be emptied of sin and lived to the glory, honor, and praise of God. As we come seeking forgiveness, we don’t just want God to take away the guilt, penalty, and consequences of our sin, we also want Him to eliminate the sinful thoughts, words, and actions themselves. Repentance naturally flows from faith. It is one of the things that God is bringing into our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, a faithful practice of the Lord’s Supper occurs when those living publicly in a sin without a repentant heart are not allowed to participate. Someone with an unrepentant heart denies the will and the work of God in his/her life by either refusing to acknowledge or turn from sin. To allow such an individual to receive Communion would falsely convey that God is willing to give forgiveness and grace without repentance by communicating that the church and God “are OK” with the sin that persists in the individual’s life.
For further biblical reading, passages like 1 Corinthians 5:11, Matthew 5:23-24 and 18:15-18, James 5:19-20, 2 Timothy 3:16, 1 Timothy 5:20 all speak of our need to correct one another in the midst of sin. Ezekiel 14:6, Matthew 3:2 and 8, and Luke 24:47 give some additional insight about repentance.
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and the 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 drink judgment on himself.
Notice the implications. It is possible to take the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner and, by doing so, profane what God is doing and giving through the meal. The word “profane” denotes a guiltiness or accountability for sin. Verse 29 also states that an unworthy reception will bring God’s judgment upon the recipient so that His anger or wrath is experienced rather than His grace.
In this passage, the Bible says that those who receive Communion should examine themselves. This self-examination will reveal that none of us are or ever can be worthy on our own to participate in the Lord’s Supper. Sin has made us unworthy and how we pray or how good we are in the week leading up to Communion or how focused we are when we take Communion… none of these things make us worthy to approach the altar. Our worthiness comes solely through our connection with Jesus through faith. What God gives you through the Lord’s Supper, He gives solely by grace, not because of anything you have done. Worthy reception thus begins with a self-examination that shows our sin and causes us to cling to who we are in Jesus as forgiven and loved children of God.
1 Corinthians 11 also indicates that those who receive Communion should do so while “discerning the body.” This means two things. That we understand what we receive; that we believe that by the power of God’s Word we are truly receiving the body and the blood of Jesus in a sacramental or mysterious way. In addition to understanding what God is giving, to discern the body also means that you understand what God is doing. You believe that God is fulfilling His promise that the bread/body and the wine/blood are given for the forgiveness of sins and that in the meal He is doing that for you.
Our worthiness to participate in the Lord’s Supper is not our own, but rather has been credited to us through faith by God’s grace and is rooted solely in the life and the death of Jesus. When we come to the altar in faith and seeking forgiveness, we also come with a repentant heart. To repent means to turn away from sin and to turn toward God. In other words, we sincerely desire that our lives would be emptied of sin and lived to the glory, honor, and praise of God. As we come seeking forgiveness, we don’t just want God to take away the guilt, penalty, and consequences of our sin, we also want Him to eliminate the sinful thoughts, words, and actions themselves. Repentance naturally flows from faith. It is one of the things that God is bringing into our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, a faithful practice of the Lord’s Supper occurs when those living publicly in a sin without a repentant heart are not allowed to participate. Someone with an unrepentant heart denies the will and the work of God in his/her life by either refusing to acknowledge or turn from sin. To allow such an individual to receive Communion would falsely convey that God is willing to give forgiveness and grace without repentance by communicating that the church and God “are OK” with the sin that persists in the individual’s life.
For further biblical reading, passages like 1 Corinthians 5:11, Matthew 5:23-24 and 18:15-18, James 5:19-20, 2 Timothy 3:16, 1 Timothy 5:20 all speak of our need to correct one another in the midst of sin. Ezekiel 14:6, Matthew 3:2 and 8, and Luke 24:47 give some additional insight about repentance.
What do we receive in the Lord's Supper
Even in its name, the Lord’s Supper is designated as a meal shared by the church. When Christians gather at the altar to celebrate Communion they eat and they drink. Just as Jesus did when He gave this practice to the church, we use bread and wine. We see, taste, touch, and maybe even smell the bread and the wine so it is easy for us to grasp the fact that we are receiving them.
But how can bread and wine be a means by which God works in our lives? The Bible teaches that it is not only bread and wine that we receive in Communion. Rather in, with, and under the physical elements, joined with them in a mysterious way that we’ll never understand until Jesus returns, God also gives the very body and blood of Jesus. We can be sure of this because we can be sure of God’s Word. Jesus’ words are spoken every time we receive Communion; “Take and eat, this is my body given for you. Take and drink, this is my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Just as we believe that God actually forgives sin through the meal, we also believe that we receive the true body and blood of Jesus.
This belief that the body and blood are truly present in the Lord’s Supper is one that divides the church around the world and one that maybe you have struggled with personally. However, it is firmly grounded in Scripture. At the core of the belief about Christ’s presence in Communion is a belief about the Word of God. God’s Word is described in the Bible as being living and active (Hebrews 4:12). God’s Word does things in people’s lives (1 Thessalonians 2:13) and just as the rain wets the earth so also God’s Word accomplishes its purposes (Isaiah 55:10-11). God’s Word is powerful and it possesses the capacity to create so when God speaks something, His words become reality. In Genesis 1, God creates with His Word. God said let there be light, and there was light. Psalm 33:6 and 9 and Hebrews 11:3 both identify God’s Word as the means by which God brings things into existence. So when Jesus’ words are connected to ordinary bread and wine, God’s Word brings the presence of His body and blood. The Bible also calls the eating and the drinking a participation in or fellowship with the body and the blood (1 Corinthians 10:16).
Those who deny the real presence of Jesus talk in terms of the bread and wine representing or signifying the body and blood. Their original reasoning for this language was the belief that Jesus could not have ascended to the right hand of God and be truly present in the Lord’s Supper. Many who originally supported this theological stance also struggled to understand how Jesus could be both human and God. The opponents to the real presence of Jesus also make grammatical errors by turning “This is my body “ into “This represents or signifies my body.” This can be complicated so I would love to talk through any issues with you if you have additional questions.
You may wonder why God would use bread and wine to work in our lives. Though I cannot provide a full answer, I do see His willingness to do so as extremely loving. In Communion, as with the waters of baptism and a pastor speaking forgiveness, God provides something physical to accompany His Word of promise which we cannot see. God did this throughout the Bible. He told Moses that He would help him lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and gave him two physical experiences to accompany the promise (Exodus 4:1-7). After they left Egypt, God promised to be with the people and they could see His presence in a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. And when Jesus forgave a paralyzed man’s sins, something that could not be observed, He also healed the man so that he could walk in order to provide observable evidence of His ability to forgive.
I am trying to be short, but feel like this paragraph needs to be added in this section. When we talk about what we receive in Communion, it is important to know that we receive the body and the blood of Jesus by the power of God’s Word. When the Word is spoken, the presence of Jesus’ body and blood become a reality. However, we must distinguish how we receive the benefits of the Lord’s Supper. The benefits or the gifts that God gives through the meal are only received by faith. It is our faith that clings to and brings into our lives the reality and the fulfillment of God’s promises to forgive our sin and give us life. This distinction is important to note because the body and the blood are present by the Word of God and are present whether the one receiving them believes or not. However, the benefits are only received by faith and the Bible teaches that receiving the body and the blood without faith is actually detrimental (see next section).
But how can bread and wine be a means by which God works in our lives? The Bible teaches that it is not only bread and wine that we receive in Communion. Rather in, with, and under the physical elements, joined with them in a mysterious way that we’ll never understand until Jesus returns, God also gives the very body and blood of Jesus. We can be sure of this because we can be sure of God’s Word. Jesus’ words are spoken every time we receive Communion; “Take and eat, this is my body given for you. Take and drink, this is my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Just as we believe that God actually forgives sin through the meal, we also believe that we receive the true body and blood of Jesus.
This belief that the body and blood are truly present in the Lord’s Supper is one that divides the church around the world and one that maybe you have struggled with personally. However, it is firmly grounded in Scripture. At the core of the belief about Christ’s presence in Communion is a belief about the Word of God. God’s Word is described in the Bible as being living and active (Hebrews 4:12). God’s Word does things in people’s lives (1 Thessalonians 2:13) and just as the rain wets the earth so also God’s Word accomplishes its purposes (Isaiah 55:10-11). God’s Word is powerful and it possesses the capacity to create so when God speaks something, His words become reality. In Genesis 1, God creates with His Word. God said let there be light, and there was light. Psalm 33:6 and 9 and Hebrews 11:3 both identify God’s Word as the means by which God brings things into existence. So when Jesus’ words are connected to ordinary bread and wine, God’s Word brings the presence of His body and blood. The Bible also calls the eating and the drinking a participation in or fellowship with the body and the blood (1 Corinthians 10:16).
Those who deny the real presence of Jesus talk in terms of the bread and wine representing or signifying the body and blood. Their original reasoning for this language was the belief that Jesus could not have ascended to the right hand of God and be truly present in the Lord’s Supper. Many who originally supported this theological stance also struggled to understand how Jesus could be both human and God. The opponents to the real presence of Jesus also make grammatical errors by turning “This is my body “ into “This represents or signifies my body.” This can be complicated so I would love to talk through any issues with you if you have additional questions.
You may wonder why God would use bread and wine to work in our lives. Though I cannot provide a full answer, I do see His willingness to do so as extremely loving. In Communion, as with the waters of baptism and a pastor speaking forgiveness, God provides something physical to accompany His Word of promise which we cannot see. God did this throughout the Bible. He told Moses that He would help him lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and gave him two physical experiences to accompany the promise (Exodus 4:1-7). After they left Egypt, God promised to be with the people and they could see His presence in a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. And when Jesus forgave a paralyzed man’s sins, something that could not be observed, He also healed the man so that he could walk in order to provide observable evidence of His ability to forgive.
I am trying to be short, but feel like this paragraph needs to be added in this section. When we talk about what we receive in Communion, it is important to know that we receive the body and the blood of Jesus by the power of God’s Word. When the Word is spoken, the presence of Jesus’ body and blood become a reality. However, we must distinguish how we receive the benefits of the Lord’s Supper. The benefits or the gifts that God gives through the meal are only received by faith. It is our faith that clings to and brings into our lives the reality and the fulfillment of God’s promises to forgive our sin and give us life. This distinction is important to note because the body and the blood are present by the Word of God and are present whether the one receiving them believes or not. However, the benefits are only received by faith and the Bible teaches that receiving the body and the blood without faith is actually detrimental (see next section).
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