Word of the week: Communion
Last week I received the following question in the communication cards from Mr. A Nonymous (or something like that). Perhaps it was actually a woman who asked! Here was his or her question:
Is it necessary to be a member of a church to take communion? And what about the need to be baptized to take communion?
This comes because one of the things the pastors at Grace will say before communion is that we invite not only our members, but members of any gospel believing church, baptized Christians (we will sometimes say) to come enjoy the Lord’s supper. For some believers from more informal church backgrounds, this may strike them as excess baggage to an invitation to the Lord’s supper.
Go back 50 or so years and visit most protestant churches (Catholics only offer mass to fellow Catholics), and you would have learned that non-members would not normally take communion in many church congregations. Some churches would welcome the members of other churches of similar belief to join in the Lord’s supper. While it may seem that this practice is like giving members a secret ceremony, something else was behind this. The Lord’s supper is for believers in Jesus Christ only. It is not an evangelism tool. It is a meal for the souls of disciples. Membership processes ensured several things - that a person could explain their faith in Jesus Christ in a meaningful and understandable way to church leaders (elders in Presbyterian Churches), and some assurance might be gained that these members actually believed in the same Jesus as presented in scripture. If someone was making their first-time profession of faith in Christ, they would receive Christian baptism at that time if they had never received it before.
I’m not aware of other denominations who would normally offer communion to an unbaptized person. Communion historically assumed that a person had a public profession of faith in Christ, and that the person either had been baptized before (perhaps as an infant in Presbyterian, Christian Reformed, Methodist, and Episcopalian churches) or in the case of Baptist churches, at the time of their profession of faith.
This practice was not ordered in the Bible, but the logic of such an approach is very biblical. I’ll show you in a minute how serious communion really is!
Many modern Christians live out of an entirely different set of assumptions than those Christians of past generations. To modern believers, their personal experience with Jesus Christ is critical. If they have, in their own opinion, had an experience with Jesus Christ, they should be invited to the Lord’s table without restriction. Who knows their heart better than they do? Who should have the right to even suggest they shouldn’t approach the Lord’s table? The previous practice is offensive to them.
I believe personal faith in Jesus Christ and the experiences that come with that are important and even essential. My point to the 21st century believer who feels the practices of denominational churches are wrong is this: Does the scripture commend independent living free from the feedback and wisdom of other believers? Should I be submitting to other Christians as a regular Christian practice? (Ephesians 5:21). Should I believe what all Christians believe about Christ before I assume I am a Christian (that’s all through the New Testament- the “faith once delivered to the saints”)? Can a person feel like they are a Christian, and even believe they are a Christian, and be completely self-deceived? (Matthew 7:21-23). Yes, they can! What better way is there to get wise feedback than to meet with some Christian leaders and discuss the status of your faith with them? Having heard your Christian testimony and some of your beliefs, they can concur with you that your testimony, and your heart, as far as they can see, suggest that you are an authentic believer. Then, having been encouraged by the leaders of the church, you proceed to enjoy communion with joyous confidence.
Personal experience is good, but personal experience connected with Christian community is the better and wiser way! Tom Breeden and I would love to discuss these topics further with anyone, and help people get baptized and enjoying the Lord’s supper as soon as possible!
Honestly, I can’t explain and don’t understand how a believer might think it acceptable to start taking communion before baptism. Why would you enjoy the Christian sacrament designed for your ongoing growth as a Christian before obeying the Lord’s call to be baptized in the triune name of God? (Matthew 28:18-20).
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. (1 Cor. 11:27-30 ESV)
This passage, which comes just after the instructions the apostle Paul gives for the Lord’s supper, demonstrates the serious nature of communion. People had actually grown ill and even died because they profaned the Lord’s Supper in some fashion. “Let a person examine himself…”. This suggests more wisdom is needed than is usually sought about these things!
There could be several approaches a church might take to honor the sacredness of the Lord’s supper. Ours is certainly not the only way (verbally inviting members of our church and others, only occasionally mentioning Christian baptism). But it is at least a way that has some wisdom and history behind it! It was never intended or designed to be an extra biblical legalism, but instead a wise and thoughtful application of various biblical passages to the enjoyment of the holiest moments Christians enjoy.
In Him,
Don