************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 81-82 ************
Doctrine: who may take the Lord's Supper
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on September 2, 2001
Q & A 81-82
1 Corinthians 11:27-34
"Who Can Come to the Lord's Table?"
Introduction
Next Sunday we hope, the Lord willing, to eat and drink at the Lord's Table. Who may or may not participate in our celebration of the Lord's Supper?
The Catechism tells us this morning that the Table of the Lord is not an open Table; not just anyone can eat the bread and drink the wine. You see, the Lord's Supper is for believers only. We may not and cannot give it to the unbelieving. Therefore, the Catechism also tells us that the Lord's Table must be safeguarded by a double discipline: first, by a self-discipline; second, by church discipline.
I Guard the Table by Self-Discipline
A The Catechism first tells us that the Lord's Table is to be safeguarded by self-discipline. The Apostle Paul talks about this self-discipline:
(1Cor 11:28) A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
Why is this self-discipline necessary? It is necessary because on this earth no one but yourself knows what really exists in your heart. Only you know your standing before and with God. Only you know the secret and personal sins you are struggling with. Only you know whether your profession is real, your repentance sincere, and your righteousness genuine.
In the final analysis you admit yourself to the Lord's Table as a confessing member in good standing. You decide for yourself whether you can eat and drink at the Lord's Table. In other words, it is up to each member to guard the Table by exercising self-discipline.
B According to the Catechism, there are three things we must look for in our life before we can admit ourselves to the Lord's Table. We must (a) hate sin, (b) love Jesus, and (c) want to do His will. This is no new teaching. It's the a-b-c of Christian comfort: I must know my sin, I must know my Savior, and I must know how I should serve Him.
Only those can come to the Lord's Table, says the Catechism, "who are displeased with themselves because of their sins." Even though we are born-again believers the Lord wants us to never be satisfied with our level of holiness, to never think we are righteous enough, to never suppose we are sufficiently sanctified. He wants us to admit that we continue to be sinners in need of forgiveness. He wants us to realize that we have broken His Law and therefore ought to be sent to the fires of hell.
To admit ourselves to the Lord's Table, then, we must be displeased with ourselves because of sin. But, this displeasure must be real and heart-felt. We must have genuine sorrow for our sin.
Topic: Sin
Subtopic: Universality of
Index: 3340
Date: 8/2001.101
Title:
Perhaps you have heard the story of the old lady who was visited by the new minister. She opened the conversation by saying, "Oh, Reverend, I am such a bad sinner! I am so sinful!" To which the minister responded immediately, "Yes, I know. Some people told me this already." This got the old lady up in arms, and very angrily she shouted, "What?! How dare someone talk about me this way."
Her response makes us wonder about the sincerity of her confession about sin.
Those who admit themselves to the Lord's Table must also make sure, says the Catechism, that they believe or trust
that their sins are pardoned
and that their continuing weakness is covered
by the suffering and death of Christ.
To participate in the Lord's Supper is to make a personal confession of faith about the death of Christ for our sins (cf 1Cor 11:26). We have to make sure that we trust in Jesus alone for our salvation.
When someone dies among the Ga'dang people of the Philippines the immediate family has to wear dark clothing and can not have their hair cut until what they call the "death stigma" has been removed.
According to their beliefs, after a proper mourning period of about six months, the closest male relative is to remove the death stigma by shedding human blood. Usually this means going to another village and either killing or injuring another party. When he brings back some proof that he has shed human blood, the stigma is removed and the family can again function normally in the village.
The Good News of the Gospel is that in Jesus Christ God has removed the death stigma from us. He did this by sending His Son to earth to die on the cross. It is only because of His shed blood and crucified body that we can function as God's people on this earth. To admit ourselves to the Lord's Table we must make sure we whole-heartedly believe and accept this.
Finally, says the Catechism, only those can admit themselves to the Lord's Table
... who also desire more and more
to strengthen their faith
and to lead a better life.
Those who come to the Lord's Table want their faith strengthened and confirmed. They earnestly desire to nurture and nourish their spiritual life. Furthermore, they also want to lead a better and more holy life. They know that to say yes to Jesus in the Lord's Supper is to say no to all other spiritual lords. I think here of what Paul says: "You cannot have a part in both the Lord's Table and the Table of demons" (1Cor 10:21).
To admit ourselves to the Lord's Table, then, three things are needed: we must (a) hate sin, (b) love Jesus, and (c) want to do His will.
C This requirement of self-discipline before partaking of the Lord's Supper has suffered two kinds of abuse throughout history.
The first kind of abuse involves those who practice too much self-discipline. These people think it is safer not to participate in the Lord's Supper than to accept the invitation given by the Lord. Each of the congregations I have served as pastor have had confessing members in good standing who rarely if ever take the Lord's Supper.
The problem with these people and churches, as I already said, is too much self-discipline. They have a wrong understanding of repentance and forgiveness. They cannot believe that God really does forgive them their sins. They doubt the genuineness of their own repentance. They point to the continued existence of sin in their life. So they stay away from the Lord's Table.
However, the invitation of God to come to the Lord's Table is a real invitation. He invites all forgiven sinners to the Table. Yes, we don't have a perfect faith, we do not serve and love God with all our heart, and we do not love our neighbor as we ought. Yet, we are confident that the Savior accepts all believers at His Table.
The second kind of abuse concerns those who practice too little self-discipline before they come to the Lord's Table. The Catechism specifies here those who are hypocrites and the unrepentant. The unrepentant are those who come to the Lord's Table even though they are not genuinely sorry for their sin and do not earnestly desire to walk a godly life. The hypocrites are those who only have the appearance of being converted and thereby deceive themselves and others when they come to the Lord's Table.
D When any of God's children fail to exercise proper self-discipline in coming to the Lord's Table then, says Paul, he "will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord" and he "eats and drinks judgment on himself" (1Cor 11:27,29). Those believers who fail to exercise proper self-discipline put themselves under the discipline of the Lord. This does not mean that they endanger their salvation. Nevertheless, some day they will have to give answer to God for their lack of adequate self-discipline when it comes to the celebration of the Lord's Supper.
II Guard the Table by Church Discipline
A The Table of the Lord is to be safeguarded not only by the self-discipline of each believer but also by the communal discipline of the church. Self-discipline is used to safeguard the Table when it comes to those whose struggle is with secret sin. Church-discipline is to be used on those members of the congregation whose struggle is with unrepentant public sin. The Catechism says
the Christian church is duty-bound to exclude
such people
by the official use of the keys of the
kingdom,
until they reform their lives.
B The Catechism specifies that the Table of the Lord has to be safeguarded by church discipline against the unbelieving and ungodly. The unbelieving are those members of the church who have rejected the claims of the Gospel. Usually they have grown up in the church. At the very least, they are baptized members. But they have rejected God's covenant claims upon them. The ungodly are those members of the church whose entire lifestyle is deliberately contrary to the will of God. The church is supposed to exclude these unbelieving and ungodly members from the Lord's Table. Jesus said, "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw pearls to pigs" (Mt 7:6).
Notice, the church does not exclude people from the Lord's Table because they have committed a public sin or offense. For if that were the case all of us ought to come under the official discipline of the church. You know what the Bible says:
(Rom 3:22b-23) There is no difference, (23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ...
People are excluded from the Lord's Supper for public sin only because they refuse to repent or because their lifestyle shows their repentance is not at all real and heart-felt. And, they are to be excluded "until they reform their lives."
C In today's world this is not a popular teaching. Even within the Christian Reformed Church there are those who are opposed to the church safeguarding the Table of the Lord. They have no objection to the Table of the Lord being guarded by self-discipline but church discipline is an entirely different matter. More than once I have heard people say the church has no business excluding anyone from the Lord's Table.
Where do our people get such ideas from? How come so many of our members so readily abandon their uniquely Reformed heritage? Many tell us that the real problem facing the Christian Reformed Church today is the blight of liberalism. But the many partings from Reformed doctrine that I see have little or nothing to do with liberalism. It has far more to do with the influence of the broader evangelical community upon the Christian Reformed Church; an influence brought about by a dismal lack of knowledge and understanding of what the Reformed faith is all about combined with a greater contact with other churches. Members want their church to be like all the other churches in town or like the church they went to while on vacation.
D There are two reasons why church discipline is to safeguard the Lord's Table. First, the Catechism says the Table is to be guarded by church discipline so that God's covenant will not be dishonored. The Lord's Supper is the covenant meal. This meal confirms to us God's covenant promises and blessings in and through Christ. The unbelieving and ungodly are not part of the covenant – they have put themselves outside of the covenant relationship. For them to partake of the covenant meal is too great a blasphemy and makes a mockery of the covenant relationship.
Think of the Lord's Supper as a marriage feast. You don't invite strangers to a wedding feast. They are not part of the circle of family and friends. It makes little sense for them to be there because they have no part in the joy and celebration that is taking place. Likewise in the Lord's Supper: the unbelieving and ungodly are not part of the circle. They have no part in the joy and celebration unless they repent and turn to God.
Second, the Catechism says the Lord's Table is to be safeguarded through church discipline so that God's anger is not brought down upon the entire congregation. This happened in the Corinthian church when she did not safeguard the Table of the Lord. The Lord's judgment fell on her. Verse 30 says, "This is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep." What we have to realize is that we are one body. Together we have covenanted to live as God's people. God blesses us together, and God punishes us together. Just as the Israelites could not win their battles as long as Achan's theft was hidden in his tent (Josh 7) and just as God's judgment came over the church of Corinth because of her misconduct at the Lord's Supper, so the Trinity Christian Reformed Church as a whole bears responsibility for the how and who of the Lord's Supper.
Conclusion
Who, then, may come to the Table of the Lord next week?
-it is for those who hate sin, love Jesus, and want to do His will.
-it is for the strugglers and doubters.
-it is for those who know their faith is not perfect and their life is not completely obedient.
Let us remember, though, that the Lord's Table is not an open Table. It must be guarded by a self and a church-discipline. Therefore,
-it is not for those who are not sorry for their sin or for those who only pretend to be sorry for their sin.
-it is not for those who are ungodly and unrepentant.