Bowling Green Covenant Church

The Traveler’s Advisory

Friday 11 August 2006

“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?” “’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 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.” —1 Corinthians 10.16; 11.26 [ESV]

There is something comfortable about familiarity. There is also an element of danger. Familiarity with Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, can lead to neglect with respect to its importance and purpose. We eat the bread and we drink the cup because we are commanded by the Lord to do so in remembrance of His sacrifice.

As followers of Jesus Christ in the Reformed tradition we acknowledge two sacraments: Communion and Baptism. We recognize these as sacraments because (1) the Lord Jesus commanded us to baptize all those who confess faith in Him and become His disciples (Matthew 28.19-20); and (2) Jesus commanded us to eat and drink the Communion meal in remembrance of Him (Luke 22.19). Baptism and Communion encourage our faith because, as sacraments, they are means of grace. When we, by faith, participate in these two sacraments the Lord Jesus Christ communicates His grace to us.

As a sacrament, Communion is a sign and seal of Christ’s work on our behalf. As a sign, Communion symbolically represents the death of Christ. Jesus’ words, “My body” and “My blood” make it plain that His was a sacrificial death. It also symbolizes our participation in Christ the crucified Messiah. We do not merely look at the bread and the cup. We eat and drink. By so doing we partake of the blessings and benefits secured for us by Christ’s death for us. And following Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10, Communion symbolizes our “communion” with one another as believers in Jesus Christ.
As we receive the elements of Communion we enter into fellowship with Christ and with one another. As a seal, Communion reminds us that we have been sealed by great love of Jesus Christ. We know this from His words, “This is My body which is for you.” Inasmuch as Christ died to redeem the elect—those predestined to be His from the foundation of the world, He died for individual believers; for you and for me.

Furthermore, Communion comforts us with the assurance that all the blessings of salvation are available to us through faith in Christ because it was for us He gave His body to the Cross and His blood to be shed.

When we receive Communion we confess again our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and pledge our loyalty to Him as our Lord. We renew our commitment to follow Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is worth noting that when we celebrate Communion Jesus Christ is spiritually present among us. Throughout Communion the bread remains bread; the wine remains wine.

However, whereas the elements remain unchanged we should not. “The body and blood of Christ, though absent and locally present only in heaven, communicate a life-giving influence to the believer when he is in the act of receiving the elements,” (L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 653-654). We believe it is the Holy Spirit who communicates this influence and that our experience of Christ’s presence depends upon our faith as we eat and drink. As a result, we should leave the Communion table changed people.

A friend once said, “The Communion table is tailor-made for people who walk with a limp.” Those who come in faith to eat and to drink experience the presence of Christ so that when they leave His table they are not as they were before they ate and drank.

We may walk away from the table with a limp, but let us not walk away as those who have no hope.

You think about that.

MM