Transcript
Ben Fallon: Paul, today we have compiled a few questions about communion. “How often should a church offer communion in its Sunday worship? Who is permitted to participate in the sacrament? Who should be prevented from taking it? And what happens if they do and shouldn't, or if they should and don't?” So, I'll give you the floor and let you respond generally about communion.
Paul Tripp: So, I want to say a lot about the Lord's Supper because I think it's such a significant and important means of God's grace. There are few means of grace where the gospel is more beautifully and physically portrayed for us than it is at the Lord's Table. And I want to look at a couple of Scriptures that contribute to our understanding of what this is about and its importance. The first is in Luke 22:14-20.
And when the hour came, he reclined at the 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 the 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.”
The disciples were anticipating that they would enjoy, with Jesus, the regular, normal, yearly Passover celebration. But Jesus does something game changing, shocking! He says, as he holds up the elements, “This is my body and this is my blood.” And in saying that, he's saying:
I am the fulfillment of all the Passover promises in Scripture. I am the one that that moment in Egypt look forward to when the angel of death passed over because of the blood on the doorpost. I'm the Passover Lamb. And when you do this from now on, don't do it in remembrance of that Old Testament historical event; you do it now in remembrance of me. I'm your eternal life. I'm your hope. It's about me.
And then there's 1 Corinthians 11:23-29.
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 this 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.
So, in the first passage, we get the connection of Jesus to the Passover, that he is the Passover Lamb. And in this passage, Paul really wants to point out to us the seriousness of this observation that it is something that should not be taken lightly. There are two things I would say about that. First of all, it's a family meal. It's a meal for the children of God who have placed their trust in Jesus to remember again that their hope is not in their righteousness, but in the perfect righteousness and acceptable sacrifice of Jesus. And we need that reminder because doubt creeps in, self-righteousness creeps in, and the Table is very humbling because it reminds us again that we have one hope. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
I think when I led the community service at Tenth Street Presbyterian Church, I must've quoted that hymn a hundred times because it's so perfectly portrayed by the Table. It also means that as I come to the Table, I should be serious and serious about the sin that necessitated Christ's suffering and death. It doesn't make any sense to minimize sin and then to celebrate the sacrifice for sin; and so, what the Table does is confront us with the sinfulness of sin. And so, Paul is saying part of what you do when you come to the table is you examine yourself and ask yourself the question, “Am I taking sin seriously?” It doesn't make any sense to celebrate the sacrifice for sin if you're not owning the seriousness of sin. So, I love the combination of these two, two passages.
Now, where does that leave us when it comes to the importance of the Lord's Table? There are several things I want to say. First of all, communion gives us an opportunity to remember and reflect on the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus, the gospel. That's important because we all become, in the business of life, gospel amnesiacs. We forget who we are and what we've been given. Second, seeing the physical symbols of Christ's broken body and shed blood is a real important thing to us because it roots us in the historicity, the actual suffering of Jesus, the physical torment that he went through for our salvation. Third, the communion moment restates, for us, the new covenant promises that are found only in the personal work of the Lord Jesus.
The fourth thing it does is remind us of the unity that we have with one another because of Jesus. I mean, I think of this all the time sitting in church on Sunday morning, “None of these people would be in this room together if it weren't for Jesus.” I mean, it's people of different backgrounds and different families and different interests and different personalities, but we're brought together as the family of God because of the personal work of Jesus. Communion is God's way of tamping down our pride and our righteousness and strengthening our rest in the righteousness of Jesus and our commitment to follow after him.
It also encourages us, finally, to look forward to the final feast, “The Marriage Supper of the Lamb.” You can argue that this moment of communion at the Lord's Table is a prophecy of the fact that grace is inexhaustible, that it will not relent until we're in that final celebration of the “Marriage Supper of The Lamb.”
Now, here's my conclusion. If this moment of physical remembrance of the person and work of Jesus does all these things for us, why would we not want to do it all the time? I am an absolute unapologetic proponent that we ought to have communion every time the church gathers for worship. For us, it's usually a Sunday morning. Now, one of the things you have to do when you do that is not make it a rushed tag-on at the end of a service, and that can happen, or it becomes so habitual that it loses its meaning.
When Luella and I were visiting my son and his wife and their young daughter, when they still lived in New York, they live in LA now, Sundays we would go to Central Presbyterian Church. And Jason Harris, his sermon would end as he was walking down to the Table; and he would always connect the Table to what he had just preached–it was so beautiful to me. First couple of times I was in tears, and then he would walk from the Table to the back, and we'd all turn around, and he would sort of commission us to take this message of the gospel out the doors of the church. It is a beautiful, beautiful thing. And I just think it is so important and so beautiful, and we can be so forgetful or so prideful or so doubtful that we need this reminder again and again and again. And so, I am a proponent of celebrating the Lord's Table every time we gather for our principal service of worship.
BF: Now, what about if you've invited a non-believing friend or neighbor or family member to church with you on a Sunday when they're offering communion, should they participate? And what should I say to my guests that I've brought?
PT: I believe that you should always “Fence the Table.” That's the old Presbyterian way of talking about that. That means you stand up and say, “This is a celebration for those who have placed their trust in the Lord Jesus. If you're a believer in Christ and a member of Christ’s church, welcome to the Table; this Table is for you.” And what happens to those who take it, even though they're not believers, I will leave that to my Lord. But clearly, we should take the warnings of Paul seriously. And I think it's important when you are the one leading that service that you welcome all who are in Christ to the Table, but ask those who are not just to let the elements pass by them. And it's a great time just to share the gospel and say, “Why doesn't this become the moment where you give your life to Jesus?”
BF: Well Paul has written a book called Sunday Matters: 52 Devotionals to Prepare Your Heart for Church. It’s not a how-to manual about liturgy and church worship service structure, but rather a devotional to help you meditate on the beauty and significance of vibrant gathered worship each week. Check it out at PaulTripp.com/Sunday. And even though he no longer preaches weekly, you can find 150 of Paul’s archived sermons at PaulTripp.com/Sermons.
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