The Lord's Supper
by J. C. Ryle
"A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of
the cup." 1 Corinthians 11:28
The words which form the tittle of this paper refer to
the subject of vast importance. That subject is the Lord's Supper.
Perhaps no part of the Christian religion is so
thoroughly misunderstood as the Lord's Supper. On no point have there been
so many disputes, strifes, and controversies for almost 1800 years. On no
point have mistakes done so much harm. The very ordinance which was meant
for our peace and profit has become the cause of discord and the occasion of
sin. These things ought not to be!
I make no excuse for including the Lord's Supper among
the leading points of "practical" Christianity. I firmly believe that
ignorant views or false doctrine about this ordinance lie at the root of
some of the present divisions of professing Christians. Some neglect it
altogether; some completely misunderstand it; some exalt it to a position it
was never meant to occupy, and turn it into an idol. If I can throw a little
light on it, and clear up the doubts in some minds, I will feel very
thankful. It is hopeless, I fear, to expect that the controversy about the
Lord's Supper will ever be finally closed until the Lord comes. But it is
not too much to hope that the fog and mystery and obscurity with which it is
surrounded in some minds, may be cleared away by plain Bible truth.
In examining the Lord's Supper I will be content with
asking four practical questions, and offering answers to them.
I. Why was the Lord's Supper ordained?
II. Who ought to go to the Table and be communicants?
III. What may communicants expect from the Lord's Supper?
IV. Why do many so-called Christians never go to the
Lord's Table?
I think it will be impossible to handle these four
questions fairly, honestly, and impartially, without seeing the subject of
this paper more clearly, and getting some distinct and practical ideas about
some leading errors of our day. I say "practical" emphatically. My chief aim
in this volume is to promote practical Christianity.
I. In the first place, "why was the Lord's Supper
ordained?"
It was ordained for the continual remembrance of the
sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we thereby
receive. The bread which in the Lord's Supper is broken, given, and
eaten, is meant to remind us of Christ's body given on the cross for our
sins. The wine which is poured out and received, is meant to remind
us of Christ's blood shed on the cross for our sins. He who eats that bread
and drinks that wine is reminded, in the most striking and forcible
manner—of the benefits Christ has obtained for his soul, and of the death of
Christ as the hinge and turning point on which all those benefits depend.
Now, is the view here stated the doctrine of the New
Testament? If it is not, forever let it be rejected, cast aside, and refused
by men. If it is, let us never be ashamed to hold it close, profess our
belief in it, pin our faith on it, and steadfastly refuse to hold any other
view, no matter who teaches it.
In subjects like this we must call no man master. It
matters little what great theologians and learned preachers have thought fit
to put forth about the Lord's Supper. If they teach more than the Word of
God contains—they are not to be believed. I take up my Bible and turn to the
New Testament. There I find no less than four separate accounts of the first
appointment of the Lord's Supper. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul, all four
describe it: all four agree in telling us what our Lord did on this
memorable occasion. Only two tell us the reason why our Lord commanded that
His disciples were to eat the bread and drink the cup. Paul and Luke both
record the remarkable words, "Do this in remembrance of me." Paul
adds his own inspired comment: "For whenever you eat this bread and drink
this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." (Luke 22:19; 1
Corinthians 11:25-26). When Scripture speaks so clearly, why can't men be
content with it? Why should we mystify and confuse a subject which in the
New Testament is so simple?
The "continual remembrance of Christ's death" was the one
grand object for which the Lord's Supper was ordained. He who goes further
than this is adding to God's Word, and does so to the great peril of his
soul.
Now, is it reasonable to suppose that our Lord would
appoint an ordinance for so simple a purpose as "remembering His death?" It
most certainly is! Of all the facts in His earthly ministry none are equal
in importance to that of His death. It was the great settlement for man's
sin, which had been appointed in God's promise from the foundation of the
world. It was the great redemption of almighty power, to which every
sacrifice of animals, from the fall of man, continually pointed. It was the
grand end and purpose for which the Messiah came into the world. It was the
cornerstone and foundation of all man's hopes of pardon and peace with God.
In short, Christ would have lived, and taught, and preached, and prophesied,
and performed miracles in vain, if He had not crowned it all by dying for
our sins as our Substitute on the Cross! His death was our life. His
death was the payment of our sin-debt to God. Without His death we would
have been the most miserable of all creatures!
No wonder that an ordinance was specially appointed to
remind us of our Savior's death. It is the one thing which poor, weak,
sinful man needs to be continually reminded. Does the New Testament
authorize men to say that the Lord's Supper was ordained to be a
sacrifice, and that in it Christ's literal body and blood are
present under the forms of bread and wine? Most certainly not! When the Lord
Jesus said to the disciples, "This is my Body," and "this is my Blood," He
clearly meant, "This bread in my hand is an symbol of my Body, and
this cup of wine in my hand contains a symbol of my Blood." The
disciples were accustomed to hear Him use such language. They remembered His
saying, "The field is the world, and the good seed stands for
the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one"
(Matthew 13:38). It never entered into their minds that He meant to say He
was holding His own body and His own blood in His hands, and literally
giving them His literal body and blood to eat and drink! Not one of the
writers of the New Testament ever speaks of the Lord's Supper as a
sacrifice, or calls the Lord's Table an altar, or even hints that
a Christian minister is a sacrificing priest. The universal doctrine
of the New Testament is that after the one offering of Christ on the
cross, there remains no more need of sacrifice.
If anyone believes that Paul's words to the Hebrews,
"We have an altar" (Hebrews 13:10), are a proof that the Lord's table is
an altar, I remind him "Christians have an altar where they partake. That
altar is Christ our Lord—who is Altar, Priest, and Sacrifice, all in One."
Throughout the Communion Service the one idea of the ordinance continually
pressed on our attention is that of a "remembrance" of Christ's death. As to
any presence of Christ's natural body and blood under the forms of
bread and wine, the clear answer is that "the natural body and blood of
Christ are in heaven, and not here." Those Roman Catholics who delight in
talking of the "altar," the "sacrifice," the "priest," and the "real
presence" in the Lord's Supper—would do well to remember that they are using
language which is entirely non-Biblical.
The point before us is one of vast importance. Let us lay
hold upon it firmly, and never let it go. It is the very point on which our
Reformers had their sharpest controversy with the Roman Catholics, and went
to the stake, rather than give way. Sooner than admit that the Lord's Supper
was a sacrifice, they cheerfully laid down their lives. To bring back the
doctrine of the "real presence," and to turn the communion into the Roman
Catholic "mass," is to pour contempt on our Martyrs, and to upset the first
principles of the Protestant Reformation. No, rather, it is to ignore the
plain teaching of God's Word, and do dishonor to the priestly office of our
Lord Jesus Christ! The Bible teaches expressly that the Lord's Supper was
ordained to be "a remembrance of Christ's body and blood," and not a
sacrificial offering. The Bible teaches that Christ's substituted death on
the cross was the perfect sacrifice for sin, which never needs to be
repeated. Let us stand firm in these two great principles of the
Christian faith. A clear understanding of the intention of the Lord's Supper
is one of the soul's best safeguards against the delusions of false
doctrine.
II. In the second place, let me try to show "WHO ought to
receive the Lord's Supper?"
What kind of people were meant to go
to the Table and receive the Lord's Supper?
I will first show, who ought NOT
to be partakers of this ordinance. The ignorance which prevails
on this, as well as on every part of the subject, is vast, lamentable, and
appalling. If I can contribute anything that may throw light upon it, I will
feel very thankful. The principal giants whom John Bunyan describes, in
"Pilgrim's Progress," as dangerous to Christian pilgrims, were two, Pope
and Pagan. If the good old Puritan had foreseen the times we live
in, he would have said something about the giant Ignorance!
(a)
It is not right to urge
all professing Christians to go
to the Lord's Table. There is such a thing as fitness and preparedness for
the ordinance. It does not work like a medicine, independently of the state
of mind of those who receive it. The teaching of those who urge all their
congregation to come to the Lord's Table, as if the coming must necessarily
do everyone good—is entirely without warrant of Scripture. No, rather, it is
a teaching which is calculated to do immense harm to men's souls, and to
turn the reception of the Lord's Supper into a mere religious form.
Ignorance can never be the mother of acceptable worship, and an
ignorant communicant who comes to the Lord's Table without knowing why
he comes—is altogether in the wrong place!
"A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the
bread and drinks of the cup." "Recognizing the body of the Lord,"—that is to
understand what the elements of bread and wine represent, and why they are
appointed, and what is the particular use of remembering Christ's death—is
an essential qualification of a true communicant. God commands all
people everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel (Acts
17:30), but He does not in the same way, or in the same manner, command
everybody to come to the Lord's Table. No! this thing is not to be taken
lightly, or carelessly! It is a solemn ordinance, and solemnly it ought to
be used!
(b)
But this is not all.
Sinners living in open sin, and determined not to give it up,
ought never to come to the Lord's Table. To do so is a positive insult to
Christ, and to pour contempt on His Gospel. It is nonsense to profess we
desire to remember Christ's death, while we cling to sin—the accursed thing
which made it needful for Christ to die! The mere fact that a man is
continuing in sin is clear evidence that he does not care for Christ, and
feels no gratitude for the offer of redemption. The ignorant Roman Catholic
who goes to the priest's confessional and receives absolution, may think he
is fit to go to the Roman Catholic mass—and after mass may return to his
sins. He never reads the Bible—and knows no better! But the professing
Christian who habitually breaks any of God's commandments, and yet goes to
the Lord's Table, as if it would do him good and wipe away his sins—is very
guilty indeed. So long as he chooses to continue his wicked habits—he cannot
receive the slightest benefit from the Lord's Table—and is only adding sin
to sin! To carry unrepented sin to the Lord's Table, and there receive the
bread and wine, knowing in our own hearts that we and wickedness are yet
friends—is one of the worst things man can do, and one of the most hardening
to the conscience. If a man must have his sins, and can't give them up, let
him by all means stay away from the Lord's Supper! There is such a thing as
"eating and drinking in an unworthy manner" and to our own "judgment." To no
one do these words apply so thoroughly, as to an unrepentant sinner.
(c)
Self-righteous
people who think that they will be saved by their own works, have
no business to come to the Lord's Table. Strange as it may sound at first,
these people are the least qualified of all to receive the Lord's
table. They may be outwardly correct, moral and respectable in their lives,
but so long as they trust in their own goodness for salvation they are
entirely in the wrong place at the Lord's Supper. For what do we declare at
the Lord's Supper? We publicly profess that we have no goodness,
righteousness, or worthiness of our own, and that all our hope is in Christ.
We publicly profess that we are guilty, sinful, corrupt—and naturally
deserve God's wrath and condemnation. We publicly profess that Christ's
merit and not ours; Christ's righteousness and not ours—is the
only cause why we look for acceptance with God. Now what has a
self-righteous man to do with an ordinance like this? Clearly nothing at
all.
One thing at any rate, is very clear: a self-righteous
man has no business to receive the Lord's Supper. The Communion Service of
the Church bids all communicants declare that "they do not presume to come
to the Table trusting in their own righteousness, but in God's numerous and
great mercies." It tells them to say, "We are not worthy so much as to
gather up the crumbs under Your table," "the memory of our sins is grievous
to us; the burden of them is intolerable." How many self-righteous
professing Christians can ever go to the Lord's Table, and take these words
into his mouth—is beyond my understanding! It only shows that many
professing Christians use the "forms" of worship without taking the trouble
to consider what they mean.
The plain truth is that the Lord's Supper was not meant
for dead souls, but for living ones. The careless, the ignorant,
the willfully wicked, the self-righteous, are no more fit to
come to the Lord's Table than a dead corpse is fit to sit down at a king's
feast! To enjoy a spiritual feast we must have a spiritual heart, and taste,
and appetite. To suppose that the Lord's Table can do any good to an
unspiritual man—is as foolish as to put bread and wine into the mouth of a
dead person! The careless, the ignorant, and the willfully wicked, so long
as they continue in that state, are utterly unfit to come to the Lord's
Supper. To urge them to partake is not to do them good, but harm.
The Lord's Supper is not a converting or
justifying ordinance. If a man goes to the Table unconverted or
unforgiven, he will be no better when he comes away (actually
worse due to the associated judgments for coming unworthily).
But, after all, the ground having been cleared of error,
the question still remains to be answered, Who are
the sort of people who ought to receive the Lord's Supper? I
answer that by saying, people who have "examined themselves to see whether
they have truly repented of their former sins, steadfastly purposing to lead
a new life—have a true faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful
remembrance of His death—they are in love with all men."
In a word, I find that a worthy communicant is one who
possesses three simple marks and qualifications—repentance, faith, and love.
Does a man truly repent of sin and hate it? Does a man put his
trust in Jesus Christ as his only hope of salvation? Does a man live in
love towards others? He who can truly answer each of these questions,
"I do," he is a man that is Scripturally qualified for the Lord's Supper.
Let him come boldly. Let no barrier be put in his way. He comes up to the
Bible standard of communicants. He may draw near with confidence, and feel
assured that the great Master of the banquet is not displeased.
Such a man's repentance may be very much
imperfect. Never mind! Is it real? Is he truly repentant? His
faith in Christ may be very weak. Never mind! Is it real? A penny is as
much true currency as is a one hundred dollar bill. His love may be
very defective in quantity and degree. Never mind! Is it genuine? The grand
test of a man's Christianity is not the quantity of holiness he has,
but whether he has any true holiness all. The first twelve communicants,
when Christ Himself gave the bread and wine, were weak indeed—weak in
knowledge, weak in faith, weak in courage, weak in patience, weak in love!
But eleven of them had something about them which outweighed all
defects—they were real, genuine, sincere, and true!
Forever let this great principle be rooted in our
minds—that the only worthy communicant is the man who has demonstrated
repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and
practical love toward others. Are you that man? Then you may draw
near to the table, and take the ordinance to your comfort. Anything less
than this I dare not change in my standard of a communicant. I will never
encourage someone to receive the Lord's Supper—who is careless, ignorant,
and self-righteous! I will never tell anyone to keep away until he is
perfect, and to wait until his heart is as holy as an angel's. I will not do
so, because I believe that neither my Master nor His Apostles would have
done so. Show me a man that really feels his sins, really leans on Christ,
really struggles to be holy—and I will welcome him in My Master's name. He
may feel weak, erring, empty, feeble, doubting, wretched, and poor. But what
does that matter? Paul, I believe, would have received him as a right
communicant, and I will do likewise.
III. In the third place, let us consider "what BENEFIT
communicants may expect to get by receiving the Lord's Supper."
This is a point of grave importance, and one on which many mistakes abound.
On no point, perhaps, connected with this ordinance are the views of
Christians so vague and indistinct and undefined. One common idea among men
is that "receiving the Lord's Supper must do them some good." Why, they
can't explain. What good, they can't exactly say. But they have a loose
general notion that it is the right thing to be a communicant, and that
somehow or other it is of value to their souls! This is of course nothing
better than ignorance. It is unreasonable to suppose that such communicants
can please Christ, or receive any real benefit from what they do.
If there is any principle clearly laid down in the Bible
about any act of religious worship, it is this that it must be with
understanding. The worshiper must at least understand something
about what he is doing. Mere bodily worship, unaccompanied by mind or
heart—is utterly worthless. The man who eats the bread and drinks the wine,
as a mere matter of form, because it is the "right" thing to do, without any
clear idea of what it all means, derives no benefit. He might just as well
stay at home!
Another common idea among men is that, "taking the Lord's
Supper will help them get to heaven, and take away their sins." To this
false idea you may trace up the habit in some churches of going to the
Lord's Table once a year, in order, as an old farmer once said, "to wipe off
the year's sins." To this idea again, you may trace the too common practice
of sending for a minister in time of sickness, in order to receive
the ordinance before death. Yes, how many take comfort about their
relatives, after they have lived a most ungodly life, for no better reason
than this, that they took the Lord's Supper when they were dying! Whether
they repented and believed and had new hearts—they neither seem to know or
care. All they know is that "they took the Lord's Supper before they died."
My heart sinks within me when I hear people resting on
such evidence as this. Ideas like these are sad proofs of the ignorance
which fills the minds of men about the Lord's Supper. They are ideas for
which there is not the slightest warrant in Scripture. The sooner they are
cast aside and given up—the better for the Church and the world. Let us
settle it firmly in our minds—that the Lord's Supper was not given to be a
means either of justification or of conversion. It was never
meant to give grace—where there is no grace already; or to provide
pardon—when pardon is not already enjoyed. It cannot possibly provide what
is lacking, with the absence of repentance to God, and faith toward the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is an ordinance for the penitent, not for the impenitent;
for the believing, not for the unbelieving; for the converted, not for the
unconverted.
The unconverted man, who fancies that be can find a
"shortcut" to heaven by taking the Lord's Supper, without treading the
well-worn steps of repentance and faith—will find to his cost one
day, that he is totally deceived! The Lord's Supper was meant to increase
and help the grace that a man has—but not to impart the grace
that he does not have. It was certainly never intended to make our peace
with God, to justify, or to convert. The simplest statement of the benefit
which a truehearted communicant may expect to receive from the Lord's
Supper, is the strengthening and refreshing of our souls—clearer views of
Christ and His atonement, clearer views of all the offices which Christ
fills, as our Mediator and Advocate, clearer views of the complete
redemption Christ has obtained for us by His substituted death on the cross,
clearer views of our full and perfect acceptance in Christ before God, fresh
reasons for deep repentance for sin, fresh reasons for lively faith—these
are among the leading returns which a believer may confidently expect to get
from his attendance at the Lord's Table. He who eats the bread and drinks
the wine in a right spirit—will find himself drawn into closer communion
with Christ, and will feel to know Him more, and understand Him better.
(a) Right reception of the Lord's Supper has a "humbling"
effect on the soul. The sight of the bread and wine as emblems of Christ's
body and blood, reminds us how sinful sin must be, if nothing less than the
death of God's own Son could make satisfaction for it, or redeem us from its
guilt. Never should we be so "clothed with humility," as when we receive the
Lord's Supper.
(b) Right reception of the Lord's Supper has a "cheering"
effect on the soul. The sight of the bread broken, and the wine poured out,
reminds us how full, perfect, and complete is our salvation! Those vivid
emblems remind us what an enormous price has been paid for our redemption.
They press on us the mighty truth—that believing on Christ, we have nothing
to fear, because a sufficient payment has been made for our debt. The
"precious blood of Christ" answers every charge that can be brought against
us. God can be "just and the one who justifies, those who have faith in
Jesus" (Romans 3:26).
(c) Right reception of the Lord's Supper has a "sanctifying"
effect on the soul. The bread and wine remind us how great is our debt of
gratitude to our Lord, and how thoroughly we are bound to live for Him who
died for our sins. They seem to say to us, "Remember what Christ has done
for you—and ask yourself whether there is anything too great to do for Him!"
(d) Right reception of the Lord's Supper into hearts, has
a "restraining" effect on the soul.
Every time a believer receives the bread and the wine, he is reminded what a
serious thing it is to be a Christian, and what an obligation is laid on him
to lead a consistent life. Bought with such a price as that which the bread
and wine call to his recollection, ought he not to glorify Christ in body
and spirit, which are His? The man that goes regularly and intelligently to
the Lord's Table finds it increasingly hard to yield to sin and conform to
the world.
Such is a brief account of the benefits which a
right-hearted communicant may expect to receive from the Lord's Supper. In
eating that bread and drinking that cup, such a man will have his
repentance deepened, his faith increased, his knowledge
enlarged, his habit of holy living strengthened. He will realize more
of the "real presence" of Christ in his heart. Eating, that bread by faith,
he will feel closer communion with the body of Christ. Drinking that wine by
faith, he will feel closer communion with the blood of Christ. He will
see more clearly what Christ is to him, and what he is to Christ. He
will understand more thoroughly what it is to be "one with Christ, and
Christ one with him." He will feel the roots of his soul's spiritual life
watered, and the work of grace in his heart established, built up, and
carried forward.
All these things may seem and sound like foolishness to a
natural man, but to a true Christian these things are light, and health, and
life, and peace. No wonder that a true Christian finds the Lord's Supper a
source of blessing! Remember, I do not pretend to say that all Christians
experience the full blessing of the Lord's Supper, which I have just
attempted to describe. Nor do I say that the same believer will always find
his soul in the same spiritual frame, and always receive the same amount of
benefit from the ordinance. But I boldly say this: you will rarely find a
true believer who will not say that he believes the Lord's Supper is one of
his best helps and highest privileges. He will tell you that if he were
deprived of the Lord's Supper on a regular basis he would find the loss of
it a great detriment to his soul. There are some things of which we never
know the value of, until they are taken from us. So I believe it is with the
Lord's Supper. The weakest and humblest of God's children gets a blessing
from this ordinance, to an extent of which he is not aware.
IV. In the last place, I have to consider "why it is that
so many so-called Christians never come to the Lord's Supper."
It is a simple matter of fact, that myriads of people who call
themselves Christians never come to the Table of the Lord. They would not
endure to be told that they deny the faith, and are not in communion with
Christ. When they worship, they attend a place of Christian worship; when
they hear religious teaching, it is the teaching of Christianity; when they
are married, they use a Christian service. Yet all this time they never come
to the Lord's Supper! They often live on in this state of mind for many
years, and to all appearance are not ashamed. They often die in this
condition without ever having received the ordinance, and yet profess to
feel hope at the last, and their friends express a hope about them. And yet
they live and die in open disobedience to a plain command of Christ! These
are simple facts. Let anyone look around him, and deny them if he can.
Now why is this? What explanation can we give? Our Lord
Jesus Christ's last injunctions to His disciples are clear, plain, and
unmistakable. He says to all, "Eat, drink: do this in remembrance of Me."
Did He leave it to our discretion whether we would obey His injunction or
not? Did He mean that it was not significant whether His disciples did or
did not keep up the ordinance He had just established? Certainly not! The
very idea is absurd, and one certainly never dreamed of in apostolic times.
Paul evidently takes it for granted that every Christian would go to the
Lord's Table when it was available. A class of Christian worshipers who
never came to the Table, was a class whose existence was unknown to him.
What, then, are we to say of that number which fail to
receive the Lord's Supper, unabashed, unhumbled, not afraid, not the least
ashamed? Why is it? How is it? What does it all mean? Let us look these
questions fairly in the face, and endeavor to give an answer to them.
(1) For one thing, many fail to go to the Table because
they are utterly careless and thoughtless about true religion, and ignorant
of very first principles of Christianity.
They go to church, as a
matter of form—but they neither know, nor care anything about what is done
at church! Christianity has no place either in their hearts, or heads, or
consciences, or wills, or understandings. It is a mere affair of "words and
names," about which they know little—and have little concern. There were
very few such false Christians in Paul's times, if indeed there were any.
There are far too many in these last days of the world. They are the
dead-weights of the Churches, and the scandal of Christianity. What such
people need is light, knowledge, grace, a renewed conscience, a changed
heart. In their present state they have no part of Christ; and dying in this
state they are thrown into hell. Do I wish them to come to the Lord's
Supper? Certainly not, till they are converted. No one can enter the kingdom
of God unless he is born again.
(2) For another thing, many professing Christians
do not receive the Lord's Supper because they know they are living in the
habitual practice of some sin, or in the neglect of some Christian duty.
Their conscience tells them so long as they live in this state, and do not
turn away from their sins, they are unfit to come to the Table of the Lord.
Well, they are so far quite right! I wish no man to be a communicant if he
cannot give up his sins. But I warn these people not to forget that if they
are unfit for the Lord's Supper in that condition, they will be lost
eternally. The same sins which disqualify them for the ordinance, most
certainly disqualify them for heaven. Do I want them to come to the Lord's
Supper as they are? Certainly not! But I do want them to repent and be
converted, to cease to do evil, and to break off from their sins. Forever
let it be remembered, that the man who is unfit for the Lord's Supper—is
unfit to die!
(3) For another thing, some are not communicant because
they imagine that it will add to their responsibility.
They are
not, as many, ignorant and careless about religion. They even attend church
regularly and listen to the preaching of the gospel. But they say they dread
coming to the Lord's Table and making a confession and a profession. They
fear that they might afterwards fall away, and bring scandal on the cause of
Christianity. They think it wisest to be on the safe side, and not
commit themselves at all. Such people would do well to remember, that if
they avoid responsibility of one kind by not coming to the Lord's Table,
they incur responsibility of another kind, quite as grave, and quite as
injurious to the soul. They are responsible for open disobedience to
a command from of Christ. They are shrinking from doing that which their
Master continually commands His disciples—confessing Him before men.
No doubt it is a serious step to come to the Lord's Table
and receive the bread and the wine. It is a step that none should take
lightly and without self-examination. But it is "no less a serious step to
walk away and refuse the ordinance," when we remember Who invites us to
receive it, and for what purpose it was appointed! I warn the people I am
now dealing with—to be careful what they are doing. Let them not flatter
themselves that it can ever be a wise, a prudent, a safe line of conduct
to neglect a plain command of Christ! They may find at length, to their
cost, that they have only increased their guilt and forsaken their mercies!
(4) For another thing, some false Christians stay away
from the Lord's Supper because they believe they are not yet worthy.
They wait and stand still, under the mistaken notion that no one is
qualified for the Lord's Supper unless he feels within him, something like
perfection. They pitch their idea of a communicant so high that they despair
of attaining to it. Waiting for inward perfection they live, and waiting for
it they die. Now such people would do well to understand that they are
completely mistaken in their estimate of what "worthiness" really is.
They are forgetting that the Lord's Supper was not
intended for unsinning angels, but for men and women subject to
weakness, living in a world full of temptations, and needing mercy and grace
every day they live! A sense of our own utter unworthiness is the best
worthiness that we can bring to the Lord's Table. A deep feeling of our
own entire indebtedness to Christ for all we have and hope for, is the best
feeling we can bring with us. The people I now have in view, ought to
consider seriously whether the ground they have taken up is defensible. If
they are waiting until they feel in themselves perfect hearts, perfect
motives, perfect feelings, perfect repentance, perfect love, perfect
faith—they will wait forever. There never were such communicants in any
age—certainly not in the days of our Lord and of the Apostles—there never
will be as long as the world stands. No, rather, the very thought that we
feel literally worthy, is a symptom of secret self-righteousness, and proves
us unfit for the Lord's Table in God's sight. Sinners we are, when we first
are saved—sinners we will be—until we die! Converted, changed, renewed,
sanctified—but sinners still (though not like before—sin is not the
pattern of a believer's new life). In short, no man is really worthy to
receive the Lord's Supper who does not deeply feel that he is a "miserable
sinner."
(5) In the last place, some object going to the Lord's
Table because they see others partaking who are not worthy, and not in a
right state of mind.
Because others eat and drink unworthily,
they refuse to eat and drink at all. Of all the reasons taken up by those
refusing to come to the Lord's Supper to justify their own neglect of
Christ's ordinance, I must plainly say—I know none which seems to me so
foolish, so weak, so unreasonable, and so unscriptural as this. It is as
good as saying that we will never receive the Lord's Supper at all! When
will we ever find a body of communicants on earth, of which all the members
are converted and living perfect lives? It is setting up ourselves in the
most unhealthy attitude of judging others. "Who are you, that you judge
another person?" "What is that to you? You must follow me" (John 21:22). It
is depriving ourselves of a great privilege, because others profane it and
make a bad use of it. It is pretending to be wiser than our Master Himself.
It is taking up ground for which there is no warrant in Scripture.
Paul rebukes the Corinthians sharply, for the irreverent
behavior of some of the communicants; but I cannot find him giving a single
hint that when some came to the Table unworthily, others ought to draw back
or stay away. Let me advise the non-communicants I have now in view, to
beware of being wise above that which was written. Let them study the
parable of the Wheat and Tares, and mark how both were to "grow together
until the harvest" (Matthew 13:30). Perfect Churches, perfect
congregations, perfect bodies of communicants, are all unattainable in this
world of confusion and sin. Let us covet the best gifts, and do all we can
to check sin in others; but let us not starve our own selves, because others
are ignorant sinners, and turn their food into poison. If others are foolish
enough to eat and drink unworthily, let us not turn our backs on Christ's
ordinance, and refuse to eat and drink at all.
Such are the five common excuses why myriads in the
present day, though professing themselves Christians, never come to
the Lord's Supper. One common remark may be made about them—there is not a
single reason among the five, which deserves to be called "good," and
which does not condemn the man who gives it. I challenge anyone to deny
this. I have said repeatedly that I want no one to come to the Lord's Table
who is not properly qualified. But I ask those who stay away never to forget
that the very reasons they assign for their conduct, are their condemnation.
I tell them that they stand convicted before God of either being very
ignorant of what a communicant is, and what the Lord's Supper is; or else of
being people who are not living right—and are unfit to die.
In short, to say, I am a noncommunicant, is as good as
saying one of three things—
I am living in sin—and cannot come;
I know Christ commands me—but I will not obey Him;
I am an ignorant man—and do not understand what the
Lord's Supper means.
I know not in what state of mind this book may find the
reader of this paper, or what his opinions may be about the Lord's Supper.
But I will conclude the whole subject by offering to all some
WARNINGS, which I venture to think are
highly required by the times.
(1) In the first place, "do not neglect" the Lord's
Supper.
The man who coolly and deliberately refuses to use an
ordinance which the Lord Jesus Christ appointed for his profit—may be very
sure that his soul is in a very wrong state. There is a judgment to come;
there is an account to be rendered of all our conduct on earth. How any one
can look forward to that judgment day, and expect to meet Christ with
comfort and in peace, if he has refused all his life to commune with Christ
at His Table, is a thing that I cannot understand. Does this hit home to
you? Be careful what you are doing!
(2) In the second place, do not receive the Lord's Supper
"carelessly, irreverently, and as a matter of form."
The man who
goes to the Lord's Table, and eats the bread and drinks the wine, while his
heart is far away—is committing a great sin, and robbing himself of a great
blessing. In receiving the Lord's Table, as in every other means of grace,
everything depends on the state of mind and heart, in which the ordinance is
used. He who draws near without repentance, faith, and love—and with a heart
full of sin and the world—will certainly be nothing better, but rather
worse! Does this hit home to you? Be careful what you are doing!
(3) In the third place, "do not make an idol" of the
Lord's Supper.
The man who tells you that it is the first,
foremost, chief, and principal precept in Christianity, is telling you that
which he will find it hard to prove. In the great majority of the books of
the New Testament the Lord's Supper is not even named. In the letter to
Timothy and Titus, about a minister's duties, the subject is not even
mentioned. To repent and be converted, to believe and be holy, to be born
again and have grace in our hearts—all these things are of far more
importance than to be a communicant. Without them we cannot be saved.
Without the Lord's Supper we can be saved. Are you tempted to make the
Lord's Supper override and overshadow everything in Christianity, and place
it above prayer and preaching? Be careful. Pay attention what you are doing!
(4) In the fourth place, "do not use the Lord's Supper
irregularly."
Never be absent when the Lord's Supper is
administered. Make every effort to be in attendance. Regular habits are
essential to the maintenance of the health of our bodies. Regular use of the
Lord's Supper is essential to the well-being of our souls. The man who finds
it a burden to attend on every occasion when the Lord's Table is spread, may
well doubt whether all is right within him, and whether he is ready for the
Marriage Supper of the Lamb. If Thomas had not been absent when the Lord
appeared the first time to the assembled disciples, he would not have said
the foolish things he did. Absence made him miss a blessing. Does this hit
home to you? Be careful what you are doing!
(5) In the fifth place, "do not do anything to bring
discredit" on your profession as a communicant.
The man who after
attending the Lord's Table runs into sin—does more harm perhaps than any
unsaved sinner. He is a walking sermon on behalf of the devil! He
gives opportunity to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. He helps to keep
people away from Christ. Lying, drinking, immoral, dishonest, selfish
communicants—are the helpers of the devil, and the worst enemies of the
Gospel. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live
self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age!" Titus
2:11-12. Does this hit home to you? Be careful what you are doing!
(6) In the last place, "do not despair" and be cast down,
if with all your desires you do not feel that you get a lot of good from the
Lord's Supper.
Very likely you are expecting too much. Very
likely you are a poor judge of your own state. Your soul's roots may
be strengthening and growing—while you think that you are not
growing. Very likely you are forgetting that earth is not heaven, and that
here we walk by sight and not by faith, and must expect
nothing perfect. Lay these things to heart. Do not think harsh things about
yourself without cause.
To every reader into whose hands this paper may fall, I
commend the whole subject of it as deserving of serious and solemn
consideration. I am nothing better than a poor or fallible man myself. But
if I have made up my mind on any point it is this—that there is no truth
which demands such plain speaking, as truth about the Lord's Supper!