Why Do We Take Communion?

A church had an unusual ritual every Sunday morning.

• Before the church sang the Doxology, they would stand up,

• everyone would turn to the right and face a blank white wall,

• and they would sang.

• Every Sunday they did this

• Finally a visitor to the church was confused and asked,

• “Why do you do this?”

No one knew. The only answer they could come up with was,

• “We’ve always done it this way.”

• But this answer did not satisfy the visitor.

• Other people were asked the same question. But they didn’t know

• Finally, an elderly man who had been a member longer than anyone else remembered the reason.

• It seems that at one time they didn’t have hymnals and the words to this song were painted on the large white wall.

• Everyone would stand, turned to the right facing the wall and sing.

• Over the years the words faded and the wall was repainted numerous times

• Yet no one remembered the significance for standing and turning toward the wall.

Many times we end up doing things for the wrong reasons

• Because no one ever stopped to ask why.

• We develop habits and traditions sometimes based on nothing more than false information.

• Each Sunday here at Franklin Christian Church we have a time of communion where we partake of the bread and the wine that remind us of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins.

• As I thought about our church and the possibility of new friends worshipping with us,

• I thought it would be a good time to explain why we take communion every week here at Franklin.

Acts 20:7 says, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.”

• Early historians document that the early church observed communion every week.

• Smaller groups (House churches) possibly took communion every day,

• But the church as a whole took communion every Sunday.

• Following that precedent, we also provide communion every week.

• We simply want to practice what we see the church in the 1st Century practicing.

One of the complaints I hear about taking weekly communion

• Is that it becomes too common. (Losses it’s meaning)

• If you take communion every week it isn’t as special.

• With that in mind, I want us to look at why we take communion.

First of all, we take communion because…

JESUS STARTED IT

• I don’t mean for that to sound like a little kid saying “he started it!”

• What I mean is that the origins of communion come from Jesus Himself.

In fact, communion is also called “The Lord’s Supper” because of the fact that Jesus started it.

Paul writes in

1Co 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,

1Co 11:24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

1Co 11:25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

God, Who created us, knows that we don’t have the greatest memories.

• Throughout the entire Bible we see that God was always setting up memorials for His people.

• Whenever a significant event would happen, the patriarchs would build an altar.

• When the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River they set 12 stones by the river bank to serve as a memorial to that event.

• Whenever their children walked by and saw the stones the parents would tell them about God’s miraculous entrance for them into the Promise Land.

A significant memorial for the Israelites was Passover.

• Passover was a meal celebrated to remember their escape from Egypt.

• During the meal they would eat bitter herbs to remind them of their years in slavery.

• They would also eat sweet honey to remind them of how good the Lord is.

• It was during this celebration that Jesus met with His disciples and started the Lord’s Supper.

• Every family would set an additional place setting for the Messiah.

• This was a reminder that they were looking for the One coming from God.

• It is from this place that scholars believe Jesus took the bread and the cup.

• Strong significance.

The primary purpose of communion is…

A SYMBOLIC REMINDER OF CHRIST’S DEATH

• Two times in these verses Jesus said to do this, “In remembrance of Me.”

• We have all been frustrated or embarrassed at times by forgetting something.