Back To The Basics - Communion Series

Back to the Basics - Communion

ME

When I was growing up most of you know I went to the Lutheran Church. For those who have been here I’ve talked about that several times. Of course there are many differences between the Lutheran Church and the Christian Church. Baptism is one of those things which we talked about a few weeks ago. Another big difference between the two churches is communion or the Lord’s Supper.

I remember taking communion in the Lutheran Church. This is something you could not do until after you have had your confirmation and the day you were confirmed was the day you got to take your first communion.

But in that church when you took communion everyone would get up and go to the front of the church where the priest would place a wafer on your tongue and then you would drink from a big cup. The same big cup that everyone else who took communion would drink from. And the liquid inside the big cup was not grape juice but it was wine.

Honestly this is some that I don’t think I could do today. Not because of the wine but because everyone drank from the same cup. I love you guys and all, but I really don’t think we need to be sharing our germs with everyone else.

ILLUS: I remember my mom taking communion one time and when she came back to her seat she said she would never take communion after a certain man again because the man had a big burly mustache and when he took the cup his mustache went down into the wine just before my mom drank out of the same cup. I’m so thankful we don’t take communion that way!

WE

For those of us in the Christian Church it is common and in no way abnormal to take communion on a weekly basis. But I have talked to many people when they first come to MVC who find it very unusual that we take communion on a weekly basis.

Some people think it is strange for us to do that. Some people think that because we take it every week that it would become too common place for us and therefore have less meaning to us. Yet other people simply ask why do you do it every week and then I tell them the verses we have been using for this Back to the Basics series and they are like, Ok, I get it. Those verses are Acts 2:42-47

GOD

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.

45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47

The breaking of bread — communion, was a part of what the early church did as part of their weekly worship of God. We see not only that they broke bread together which included eating together as well as communion, but we also see later in Acts that they broke bread together on the first day of the week, Sunday.

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. Acts 20:7

While there is no direct command in the Bible that tells us to take communion every week we take it weekly because we see that when the early Christians came together they participated in the Lord’s Supper together. Matter of fact Acts 2 says everyday they came together in the temple courts and they broke bread in their homes and ate together.

With that as the background it would not at all be out of line to partake of communion not only on Sunday morning, but when we meet together as small groups and when we meet together on Wednesday nights. I’m not suggesting that we do that, but only that if we did it would be perfectly fine.

The Acts 20:7 passage I read a few minutes ago suggest though that the first day of the week was a time when the early church participated in the Lord’s Supper. Hence we take communion every week.

And even though we take communion every week it is not something for me or for anyone else I have talked in the Christian Church that get mundane or so common place that it holds no meaning for us. Matter of fact the most common thing I have heard from people is that because we take of communion weekly it holds more meaning for them. I know it does for me.