Earnestness of Communion

“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper ), and to prayer. “

“They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity — all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved."
Acts of the Apostles 2:42,46-47

I started undergrad in 1993 at a Baptist university.  For electives, I took a couple of religion classes my freshman year.  My first B was in one of these classes, taught by my Sunday School teacher and golf partner.  Needless to say, I wasn’t happy with him.  The class was “Introduction to Church Ministry”.  Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Church (1995) had not yet been published but his ideas were still a topic of conversation in the class as we all had heard of Saddleback Church and Rick Warren.  The five purposes of the Church that Mr. Warren puts forward from the Scripture are:

1. Fellowship
2. Discipleship
3. Worship
4. Ministry
5. Evangelism.

This passage in Acts 2:42 shows the Church at the earliest performing four of these.  The only one not called out directly (evangelism) is covered in verse 47.  From the beginning, this is who the Bride of Christ has been.  We who are believers are part of this Church and should be devoted to these things.

The Eucharist is part of worship.  The early Church found the Eucharist important and practiced it regularly.  Depending on the translation, the passage has small groups of believers sharing in the Eucharist in homes.  Communion is about what is expressed in the earliest of hymns we have of the Church in Philippians 2:6-11. (He became a man and felt pain and struggle as we felt pain and struggle to give us life. This is what communion is all about. To help us truly understand that He suffered as a man for us.)

"Though he was God,

    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,

    he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
    and gave him the name above all other names,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth

and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father."
Philippians 2:6-11

Communion is a reminder of what Christ said in John 6:51, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”  As a Protestant church, we do not hold to transubstantiation.  The wafer does not physically become the flesh of Christ in our understanding.  But, the wafer represents the broken flesh of Christ for us.  We break the wafer when we eat it.  The wafer becomes a part of who we are just as Christ is in us and part of who we are.  The juice also does not become physical blood but represents the poured out blood of Christ for us.  The juice becomes a part of who we are when we drink it.  Just as Christ is part of us, the juice also becomes part of who we are.  Christ said in John 6:55, "For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink."  Then we eat the bread and drink the juice, we should be reminded of the sacrifice of Christ, and that He is now within us and part of us as the wafer and juice are a part of us.

1. Do you approach Communion as a worship of Christ?
2. Do you pour yourself out to Christ?
3. Are you willing to give up your privileges and take on the position of a slave for Christ?

--Zine Smith