As often

July 26, 2007

By Bob Caldwell

The Lord’s Supper is a unique event in the life of the church. For us in the evangelical part of Christendom, it is one of only two ritualistic events, the other being water baptism. Although there are reasons for people to be baptized more than once, and there is no biblical prohibition against it, if everything goes according to God’s plan, a person gets saved, then baptized, and doesn’t repeat either event. The Lord’s Supper, however, is envisioned as a repeated event.

Paul records these words for us in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26: “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (NKJV).

Paul quotes Jesus as saying, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” and “This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” Paul then goes on to say, “as often as you eat … and drink.”

The clear implication is that the Lord’s Supper is a repeated event. It is to be done at many points in our lives.

Sometimes the issue of how frequently to take the Lord’s Supper comes up. Some churches offer and encourage people to participate weekly. In the Catholic Church, you could receive it daily if you wished. At the other extreme are those who will only take it once per year, typically near or on Good Friday. Much of the American evangelical tradition, which would include most Assemblies of God congregations, celebrates monthly. Everyone struggles with two sides of the same coin regarding frequency: Do it too often and you may make the event meaningless in the minds of many. Do it too infrequently and you lose the benefit of its observation.

My point is not to argue for how frequently it is to be done, but to help us to see why we do so as often as we do. When Paul said that we “proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes,” who is that proclamation to? The world? I don’t think so. Although Paul did address the point that unbelievers could wander into the Corinthian Christians’ meetings in 1 Corinthians 14, the setting of chapter 11 seems to indicate a meeting of just believers. Outsiders are not the audience of the proclamation.

I think we get an interesting juxtaposition of terms here. The Lord’s Supper is both a remembrance and a proclamation. The former is mostly internal, the latter mostly external. We are reminding ourselves while we are reminding other believers.

To drive any distance begins with starting a car. Without that event, no progress will ever be made. Once we are on the road, however, we never again think about what it took to start that car. Rather our attention is given to finding gas to keep the car moving, or on the scenery, or checking the map to make sure we are on the right road. How we began the journey is in our rearview mirror, so to speak.

This is the importance of the Lord’s Supper. If we are progressing in the Christian life, we tend to focus on those things that will move us deeper into our relationship with God, on things that will help us succeed in overcoming sin, on things that will make us better evangelists to our co-workers. It’s not that we have forgotten from where we came, we just don’t think about it a lot.

The danger is that we may become confident in ourselves. Look how far I have come, or I am so glad that I have overcome that habit. To keep ourselves in check, Jesus told us to come back every so often to the cross. To remember what He gave up for us. To understand that it is all because of Him and not because of us.

So the next time you celebrate Communion in your church, remember that everything you have and everything you are begins with the work Christ did on the cross.

Bob Caldwell is a Ph.D. student at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO.