July 12, 2014 - Church at Worship (Communion Sabbath)

Communion Sabbath

Pastoral Welcome - Shirley Ponder

Baptism - Sarah Pei-Sing Chan

Sermon Notes:

From time to time, the question arises whether Communion should be open to all who come to church or restricted only to official church members. Historically, the Roman Catholic tradition and some Protestant churches have reserved communion only to their congregants. This question has recently re-surfaced in our own congregation. Some feel strongly that I Cor. 11: 17-34 teaches that Communion should be open only to “true believers” and closed to everyone else. 

I am persuaded that this belief is based on a misunderstanding of Paul’s counsel to the Corinthian Church regarding the Lord’s Supper. From just a surface reading of this passage (especially in the KJV), some have concluded that Paul is warning the believers that only those who are “worthy” should receive Communion. But a more careful reading of the entire context of this passage leads one to a different conclusion. 

Paul is not saying that only those who are “worthy” can participate in Communion because, obviously, none of us are really worthy, whether we are church members or not. “ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” It is only by virtue of the shed blood of Christ on the cross that anyone can come into God’s presence—for any reason. It is precisely BECAUSE we are unworthy that we need to receive Communion. 

Paul is speaking, in chapter 11, to a specific problem that had arisen in the Corinthian Church. Some of the members were mistreating people in their assembly by trying to exclude them from participating in the Lord’s Supper. Some were acting in an irreverent manner by rushing ahead of the poorer, less fortunate members of the church and hoarding the food for themselves. 

Paul is rebuking these people and saying to them, “when you treat one another this way, you are eating the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner, and in so doing, you are guilty of profaning the body and blood of Christ.” Paul is not, in any way, making a case for who is, or who is not, worthy to receive Communion. He is speaking specifically to those who are acting in an un-Christian manner in the way they are participating in the Lord’s Supper. 

If we, as an Adventist congregation, take the position that some who come into our assembly are worthy and some are not worthy of taking Communion, we also are acting in an un-Christian way. We also are eating the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner. The Gospel of Jesus is always INCLUSIVE and never EXCLUSIVE. “My house shall be a house of prayer for ALL people.” “Whosoever will, may come.” 

In the book Desire of Ages, p. 656, Ellen White writes, “Christ’s example forbids exclusiveness at the Lord’s Supper. . . . God has not left it with men to say who shall present themselves on these occasions. . . . There may come into the company persons who are not in heart, servants of truth and holiness, but who may wish to take part in the service. They should not be forbidden. . . .” 

Many who come into our worship services are in the process of coming to faith in Christ — and are at many different stages of faith development. If a person is not resisting the call of the Spirit on their heart, then they are being inexplicably drawn ever closer to Christ. So just even being in the presence of Christ and participating in the Communion Service can actually be the point of contact that brings a person into a faith relationship to Jesus for the first time. I doubt we would want to deny that experience to anyone. 

Marvin Ponder 
Associate Pastor 
Pastoral Care