Who should observe the Lord’s Supper?

Mat 26:20 Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. Mat 26:21 And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.

This takes place right before the Lord’s Supper. At this point I want you to notice who is in the room with Jesus? The twelve apostles who made up the first church.

In 1 Corinthians 11 the apostle Paul rebukes the church at Corinth for turning the memorial supper into a drunken feast.

However, note in verse 17 notice that they come together. They had most of it wrong but they had the coming together right.

1Co 11:17 Now in this that I declare [unto you] I praise [you] not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.

It is not the coming together that they are getting rebuked for. It is the coming together for the worse and not the better.

1Co 11:18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

Here they are come together in the church.

1Co 11:20 When ye come together therefore into one place,…

And in verse 20 they came together into one place.

And according to 1 Corinthians 1:2 this letter was addressed to the church of God which is at Corinth.

Therefore the Lord’s Supper is a church ordinance. It was given to the Lord’s churches to observe. It was the church that Jesus told, “do this in remembrance of me.

So the Lord’s supper is a church ordinance that pictures what Christ did for us on the cross. We went over how it pictured the work of Christ on the cross in the last lesson on the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper is also a time of self examination.

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.

The observance of the Lord’s Supper is to be preceded by solemn self-examination.

Eating unworthily means in an unworthy manner. Nobody is worthy, we all have sin. But we are not to take the Lord’s Supper with an unrepentant heart. We are not to take it in an unworthy manner. First confess your sin to God, then participate in communion.

We saw in our lessons on Baptism that the ordinance of Baptism is like a guard at the entrance of the church to keep it pure. To keep the wolves out.

And this second ordinance of the Lord’s Supper is like a guard on the inside of the church to keep it pure.

How? The members are to solemnly examine themselves and get right with God before they partake of the Lord’s Supper. If Christians would do this, then much of the sin in our churches today would be gotten right with God by self-examination.

The Lord’s Supper helps to keep the church pure.

There are three ways that churches have the Lord’s Supper.

The first way is called open communion. In open communion everyone is invited to participate. They do not care if anyone is saved or not. They do not care if you are a member of any church whatsoever. You will not find open communion in the Bible anywhere. Everywhere in the Bible that the Lord’s Supper was taken you will find that it is a local assembly that partook of the Supper.

The second way is what is called Close communion. In close communion anyone that is a member of any church is allowed to partake of the Lord’s Supper. We do not practice close communion because the Lord’s supper is not an Christian ordinance it is a church ordinance.

The third way is called Closed communion. In closed communion only the members of the local church are invited to participate in the Lord’s Supper.

Closed communion is what we do at North Valley Baptist Church. The Lord’s Supper is a church ordinance and not a Christian ordinance. It was given to the church and not to Christians in general.

Some will object to this by saying shouldn’t every Christian take the Lord’s Supper.

I say yes they should, but they need to partake of the Lord’s Table with their church.

But what if they do not have a home church. Then they need to get that fixed now don’t they. It is God’s will that every Christian have a church home.

Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Christians are not to forsake assembling together. So to obey this command of God, you must have someone to assemble with. You are to have a church home.

Someone comes in and wants to partake of the Lord’s Table and they do not have a church home then they are living in open disobedience to God.

Are you going to let someone who is living in open disobedience to God by not having an assembly to assemble with take of the Lord’s table when it says that Christians are to take it worthily.

Church means assembly. The church is not the building. The church is a group of Christians that assemble together. If you do not assemble then you do not have a church.

There is no universal invisible church.

But many will retort don’t you think that all born again Christians are in the kingdom of God.

I would say us we are. But the kingdom of God is not the same thing as the Church. And the Lord’s Supper was given to the local visible assembly of believers. It was not given to the kingdom of God.

Now I understand that many will get mad at this.

Let me ask you a question. Can a lost person come into our business meetings and vote? Someone who has rejected Christ. NO. Would you let a person from another church come in here and vote on whether or not we should build a new building? No you would not.

Are you going to hold our business meetings in a higher regard than the Lord’s Table?

Are you going to hold voting to a higher standard than an ordinance that was given to the local church by God?

At this church we have closed communion but we do it in regular church services. Primarily for two reasons.

1 Christians are to do things openly and not in secret, not in darkness.

Joh 7:4 For [there is] no man [that] doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.

And we have the example of Jesus.

Joh 18:20 Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.

2 When we have the Lord’s Supper we are to show forth the Lord’s Death. If you are having the Lord’s Supper in secret, then who are you showing it forth to?

So what we do before we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we explain to everyone present that the Lord’s Supper is a Church ordinance and that only Church members are to partake.

If someone does partake, we do not run over and take the bread out of their mouth. That would ruin what we are having the Lord’s Supper for. It is to be a solemn time and not a time for a riot.

How Often are we to observe the Lord’s Supper?

The Bible does not give a definite time for observing the Lord’s Supper and the Bible does not tell us how frequently that we are to do it.

1Co 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

It simply says as often as.

Many Pastors believe that if you schedule the Lord’s Supper in a routine way, for example, on the first Sunday of each month, that it will make what is to be a memorable event to become unmemorably common.

What about the Roman Catholic Mass?

Roman Catholics are taught that the mass is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who is really present on the altar. That’s what they teach. The priest offers him to God for the living and the dead.

Upon the words of consecration by the priest, the wafer and the alcoholic wine literally change into the real flesh and blood of Christ. This is called transubstantiation.

That the observance of the mass is a means of grace (part of salvation) whereby the person actually eats the real flesh of Jesus. It is a mortal sin to not receive Holy Communion at Easter.

This teaching of transubstantiation can be traced to the 9th century writings of Paschasius Radburtus. It later was declared a doctrine by Pope Innocent III in 1215 A.D. at the Council of Lateran IV.

This false teaching is based upon a misinterpretation of Matthew 26:26-28 and John 6:53-58.

Mat 26:26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed [it], and brake [it], and gave [it] to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

Mat 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave [it] to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Jesus spoke symbolically here. Jesus was literally present when He said this so of course the bread was not his actual body. HELLO. The words This is my body means This represents My body.

An exact word-for-word interpretation of this passage would also require the same for every passage. For example Matthew 16:23

Mat 16:23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

If figures of speech are not allowed, then the Catholic’s beloved Peter is actually Satan.

Roman Catholics are taught that Peter was the first pope, and Jesus just called him Satan.

You have to allow for figures of speech in the Bible.

Joh 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

Joh 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Joh 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

Joh 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

Joh 6:57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

Joh 6:58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.

The passage in John is speaking about spiritual things. It is talking about spiritually partaking of Jesus Christ, who is metaphorically the Living Bread. He is not speaking about literally eating Him.

What does the Bible say about the Roman Catholic Mass?

First eating blood is forbidden by the Law and is mentioned in the New Testament (Lev. 17:10, Matthew 5:17).

Second idolatry is forbidden (1 John 5:21, Exodus 20:4-5). Roman Catholics are taught to worship their cookie. That is idolatry.

Third the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was sufficient and once and for all. The continual, repetitious sacrifice of Christ by Roman Catholic priests is a denial of the finished work of Christ.

Joh 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Heb 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all].

Heb 10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put [him] to an open shame.

Crucifying the Son of God again and again puts him to an open shame.

And that is what they are doing every time that they have mass.

Fourth, How can a priest make Christ? The creature cannot make the Creator.

Fifth, is not cannibalism wrong. HELLO.

Sixth, if the cracker literally became Christ’s body as they teach would it not look and taste different. It does not make any sense does it.

And Seventh, if the cracker literally became Christ’s body, they would ran out long ago would they not. Christ was basically the same size as any ordinary man.

The Mass is disgusting and it is not Christian in any way shape or form.