Why Communion is the Ultimate Celebration
This is a time to stand in Christ's Righteousness and come to the table to feast with our God, with whom we now have peace.
Communion is not a funeral.
It is not a confession of sins.
It is not a time to kneel.
It IS a joyful celebration of what Christ did for us and a memorial for God to remember what He promised.
It seems like there is a lot of confusion even among the stoutest of Biblical believers for why we participate in the Lord's Supper and how we should practice it.
In order to get clarity, we need to put the Lord's Supper in context.
Namely, we, 99% percent of the time, take the Lord's Supper during the Lord's Day service. This means the Lord's Supper is part of a larger practice of what God's People do when we gather together on Sunday.
So what should be happening in the Lord's Day service?
There are 5 core elements.
Here they are:
1. Call to Worship
2. Confession
3. Consecration
4. Communion
5. Commissioning
These 5 elements are documented in the Old Testament, they are nothing new. This is not something I have come up with or something that was just recently discovered. And it has been found in many churches' services on the Lord's Day throughout history.
Let's take a quick run though a portion of this list so we can see why Communion is the pinnacle of the Worship service.
Call to Worship
Here we are entering into the presence of God. And when we do enter His presence, we do it with shouts of joy! Our Master has called for us to come, what a joyful time! The groom has come for His bride, the wedding is happening!
"Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts!" Psalm 65:4
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!" Psalm 100:4
Confession
When we enter the presence of God, we come face to face with our sin. So we confess our sins, looking to Christ's blood to cleanse us.
And we are declared forgiven because of Christ's death on the cross!
I will skip the consecration part of the Worship service for another day to get to the reason why the Lord's Supper is a celebration.
We not only have come into the presence of our great and holy King, but He has declared us forgiven through His Son's blood! This is a time to celebrate.
It would not make sense to act as if we are in a funeral. Nor would it make sense to confess our sins! We already did that! This is not the time to kneel.
No! This is a time to stand in Christ's Righteousness and come to the table to feast with our God, with whom we now have peace.
And feast as Jesus commanded us to do!
This is the feast that declares we possess eternal life because Christ will raise us up on the last day! We have peace with God because of Christ. We are not the person at the wedding without wedding clothes! (Matthew 22:11-13)
And this is why we should have the Lord's Supper every worship service.
The pinnacle of every weekly worship service is the celebration of Christ's victory over our sins and our deliverance from God's Wrath. This is the Lord's Supper!
What I am laying out here is not a theological dissertation, but rather an encouraging word to the brethren so that they might join me and the others who see the Lord's Supper as this precious gift from our friend, Jesus Christ.
May you always see the Lord's Supper as the pinnacle of the Lord's Day service. When we take the bread and wine, God is reminded of His Son's work and His covenant with us. What a joyful moment for God's People! May God be praised!