The Lord's Supper - They Make It So Complex

Just Keep It Simple and Solemn

The Lord’s Supper, or the Holy Communion is an important Christian practice and should be done correctly.  But even if there are errors in its practice, it would not affect your salvation.  To do it correctly also does not mean to do it in a complex and ritualistic manner.  It is actually the simplest thing to do.

It is said that Jesus required his disciples to observe 3 “sacraments”, so to speak.  The first is baptism, the second is the Holy Communion and the third is the washing of feet.  The first two are studiously observed.  The washing of feet is mostly carried out by cults today.  Hmmm.  Strange indeed.  Mainline churches do the strangest things.  Anyway, the matter today is not about feet washing.  It is about the Holy Communion.  And here, I hope clear up the silly deviations that have developed over the centuries.  As usual, the seminaries and bible colleges do a great job helping to perpetuate the wrong ideas.

This passage from the book of Corinthians is almost identical to that which is in the gospel of Luke: 

1Co 11:24  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

1Co 11:25  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

And so, the instructions and explanations are simple – eat to remember Jesus, as often as you would for what He has done.  No other conditions.  But look at how man has turned such simple instructions into a complicated thing. 

1)           “Only believers who are baptized are “qualified” to partake of the Holy Communion.”  You will note that Jesus did not say anything like that, neither does the bible say that anywhere.  As long as a person believes in Jesus, he should partake of the Holy Communion, and as often as he does it, to remember Him.

2)           “Before partaking of the bread and wine, the believer must ‘examine himself’ to see if he is worthy to partake, lest he fall sick and die.”  This is by far, the most prevalent teaching, and I dare say, at almost all sessions you will hear the presiding person reminding the congregation to examine themselves.  And the cause of this careful reminder is a careless understanding of these few verses,

1Co 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 1Co 11:29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 1Co 11:30  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

Yes, and very, very careless indeed.  This is typical of those who take verses out of context.  These verses must be read in context to the full passage, and especially these verses preceding the above:

1Co 11:20  When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. 1Co 11:21  For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 1Co 11:22  What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

So, the “unworthily” issue relates to the manner in which the Christians came together for the Lord’s Supper!  It does not relate to the sinfulness of the person.  You see, in those days people came for church meetings bringing their own food.  Some can afford to bring more, some less and others cannot afford to bring any hope to share what others brought.  The Lord’s Supper was taken with real dinner bread and wine, not with wafers and syrup as we do now.  Paul scolded the Corinth Christians for having a selfish attitude, eating without consideration for others who came late or did not have anything to eat.  Some were even getting drunk! They were showing loveless attitudes. And drunkards get no share of the kingdom of God.  These then, were the unworthy attitudes towards the Lord's Supper, not the sins and transgressions of the Christians.  So, there you go.  Bible colleges forgot to teach the truth and wrongful teachings take root to become  tradition.  As Jesus scolded the Pharisees in Mar 7:13  that they make “the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”  Are the church leaders any much different today?

3)          "Partaking the holy communion heals diseases".  Oh, indeed!  Why are so many believers still sick?  Why are so many pastors suffering and dying from cancer?  I know, I know.  You base it on Isaiah 53:5 and also 1Pe 2:24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.   

By His stripes you are healed, spiritually. 

 Has it occurred to anyone that this logos refers to spiritual healing and not bodily healing?  But if God gives this verse as a rhema for bodily healing to any particular person or situation, that's a different matter.  As far as the logos is concerned, it is for spiritual healing!  For if these verses refer to bodily healing, then the word of God is not proven true!  God's word is always true.  Man lies.  Not God.  No wonder so many Christians are so easily disappointed with the the word of God!  Our teachers give the wrong meaning to the verses and create unreal expectations.

"Kneel & receive" - a sense of power over others

4)         “The holy communion is to be ‘served’ only when there is a pastor present or only by church elders.”  It is made into a church affair, forgetting that the church is the believers, not the organization.  Any gathering of believers can serve holy communion, anytime and at any place.  Even a gathering of the family members in the name of Jesus constitutes a church!  This kind of rule smells of the spirit of control and vanity.  Boosting of the ego of church positions and self-importance, and the desire to keep the common believers in awe of the leadership.  Hambug!

Mumbo-jumbo- Jesus becomes bread

5)           And the Roman Catholics turn the Lord’s Supper into something else totally!  And they do it with fancy chalice and all.  You know, their need for grandeur and vanity?.  Roman Catholics added an extra feature into it - it is for the redemption of sins!  I do not know where in the bible they found this suggestion, but you can count on their traditions to lead you into error.  Their traditions are of greater importance than scripture.  They forgot that it is to “eat, drink and remember Jesus”.   Even more ludicrously, the Catholic priest recites some mumbo jumbo ( like some witchdoctor or shaman priest ) and calls down Jesus into the wafer, turning wafer into Jesus’ flesh - so called "transubstantiation".  And you are not supposed to bite into the wafer because of it ( lest Jesus say “ouch!”?).  The way the religious men ( religious does not mean “godly”) do it, it is like Jesus is some minion spirit waiting to be turned into roti at anytime, anywhere all over the world at their beck and call.

Pomposity!  Fulfilling a vanity need

I have made this explanation as simple as possible.  Remember, partake of the Lord’s Supper only to remember Him for what He had done for you.  It is not a salvation matter.  It is not about washing of sins.  It is about remembering Jesus.  Do it as often as you can.  Do it solemnly.  Do it with your family any time you want.  No need for fancy silver goblets and gold cups.  No need to kneel to some other human being to "receive" the bread and wine.  Being baptized is not a precondition.  Age is not a precondition, as long as a child understands what it is all about and the solemnity of it, it can partake of it.  If anyone says age is a precondition, just ask him to show you the relevant bible verse.

Forget about all those churchy rules.  Different churches want different practices just to differentiate themselves.  You can trust the cults like Jehovah Witnesses to do it differently, putting in their own rules which do not come out of the bible.  The Recovery Church puts a bowl of wafers and cups of syrup on a stand in the centre of the congregation, and people are free to walk up to serve themselves anytime during service, while mainline churches make a great ceremony out of it. 

Jesus says in John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."