God teaches us about Himself and His salvation in Christ
not only by His Word which we can hear or read, but also by things which we can
see. Outward and visible signs help to make the truth more impressive than mere
words do.
We call the two visible signs of baptism and the Lord’s
Supper (or Communion), the “Ordinances”
or “Sacraments”. They visibly express the truth of the Gospel, confirm it to
us and give us the means to show that we have responded to it. Both ordinances
speak of Christ’s death and the blessings we receive from it.
People often say preaching is the audible Word and the
ordinances are the visible Word.
The ordinances remain only symbols but they can be the
means of blessing to us as long as we have faith in Christ first of all. They
help to deepen our sense of being united to the Lord and so strengthen our
faith.
We are baptised only once because we are born again only
once. But we receive the Lord’s Supper many times, as we need to be assured
often of God’s forgiveness, because we still fail Him and let Him down. Also
the Lord’s Supper constantly reminds us of His love for us and how much we owe
Him. This should draw us closer to Him and so our new life in Christ is made
stronger.
The ordinances are also linked with the church. Baptism is, among other things, the door into the visible church (Acts 2:41-47, Galatians 3:26-28) and we partake of the Lord’s Supper as members of God’s family (1 Corinthians 10:17, 11:18-29).
The Lord’s Command
The Lord Jesus commanded that His disciples should be
baptised (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 2:28). It is a public confession of our faith
and so becomes a badge of discipleship. In the New Testament baptism was one of
the first things that followed conversion. Furthermore, there were no unbaptised
Christians in the early church.
Baptism is the Lord’s will for His servants and if He
is truly our master we shall want to obey Him in this, as in every other way.
Believers Baptism
In this church we practice only believers’ baptism
(wrongly called “adult baptism” – it is faith in Christ and not a
person’s age which is a condition for baptism). This is the only kind of
baptism which is meaningful to the person baptised. “Christian baptism is the
baptism of a Christian”.
(There is no evidence in church history of infant baptism
till the end of the second century and it did not become the general practice
till the fifth century. Even after that time individuals continued to protest
against infant baptism, but it was not until the Protestant Reformation in the
16th century that larger groups of people returned to believers’
baptism. Today it is practiced by many Christians all over the world. It is a
very unfortunate fact that infant baptism has led some people to believe that it
has made them right with God and fit to go to heaven. The result is that they do
not see their need to trust Christ personally as Lord and Saviour)
The mode of baptism we use is immersion rather than
sprinkling. This is what the Greek word “Baptizo” means and it is clear from
the New Testament that this is the way the first Christians were baptised.
The Meaning of Baptism
Baptism is not just a public profession of faith, and
following the example of the Lord Jesus (who Himself was baptised when He began
His ministry – Matthew 3:13-17).
Baptism proclaims the Gospel to us declaring that Jesus
died, was buried and rose again for our salvation. Then the person who is
baptised is saying through the ordinance that in Christ he/she has not only been
forgiven but has finished with an old life (the “old man”) and has begun a
new life (the “new man”). “Buried with Him through baptism into death,
that just as Christ was raised from the dead – even so we also should walk in
newness of life” (Romans 6:3-8).
As faith is the inward response, so baptism is the
outward response to the Gospel. Like a wedding ring, it is not the relationship
itself, but it points to the relationship.
Baptism does not itself cleanse us from sin, or give us a
new life, (we should already have these before baptism) but it impresses these
truths on us more deeply. And as it is the Lord Himself who commands us to be
baptised, we find that obedience brings His blessing and deepens our commitment
to Him.
Baptism also makes it very clear that henceforth we are
under a solemn obligation to live a new life under the Lord’s control and in
His power.
Believers’ baptism is an important and memorable landmark in the life of a Christian and he/she can look back on it as a strengthening and stabilising effect on the person baptised. A baptismal service can be a challenge to the non-Christian to accept Christ, to the unbaptised Christian to be obedient, and also to the baptised Christian to renew his vows to the Lord.
The Symbols used in the Lord’s Supper
The bread stands for Christ’s body in which He bore our sins and their punishment.
The words “This is…” (Matthew 26:26,28) have caused great controversy over hundreds of years and are still much debated today.
We should obviously see the word “is” as meaning “represents”. This is how we often use the verb “to be” e.g. “I am the door” (John 19:9) and “The field is the world” (Matthew 13:38). Or holding a photograph we say “Here is the queen”.
The bread and wine are not
changes into Christ’s actual body and blood. Our senses (i.e. our sight, taste
and touch) tell us that they remain bread and wine. Also the disciples, being
Jews, would have been horrified at eating actual flesh and drinking actual
blood.
The meaning of the Lord’s Supper
We attend the Lord’s Supper at the invitation of the
Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:24,25). If we truly belong to Him we cannot treat
His wishes lightly. We should also think of Him as the host and ourselves as His
guests. We do not come as individual Christians, but as members of His family (1
Corinthians 11:17, 18, 20, 33, 34).
Several people take part in the
service because it is a “congregational” service and they represent the
whole church. We serve one another with the elements because we believe in the
priesthood of all believers.
At the Lord’s Table we
remember His death for us and all the blessings which we receive from it. Dying
in our place, the Lord Jesus made a complete and perfect atonement or
satisfaction for our sins. As a result we are forgiven and accepted and we share
in the New Covenant (1 Corinthians 11:25 cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34) in which God
promises to be our God and He takes us as His people. So we give Him our
heartfelt thanks for all He is and all He has done for us.
We need to be constantly
reminded of these things because we so easily forget.
Eating the bread and drinking
the wine show that we have made the blessings of His death our own and we belong
to Him. At the same time we give ourselves back to Him, thus reaffirming our
side of the covenant.
Also in a spiritual way we feed
on the Lord who is in the midst of His people and we lay hold of His grace and
strength. Of course, we can commune with Him in many ways, e.g. Bible and
prayer, but communion at the Table is more vivid because an appeal is made to
our senses as well as our mind, i.e. the bread and wine are a visual reminder to
us of Him and His salvation. The Lord is everywhere and He is not more present
at His Table than anywhere else, but at the Table everything is done to remind
us of His presence.
So coming to the Lord’s Table
in faith gives us a clearer understanding of what Christ means to us and has
done for us. As a result we realise the importance of trusting Him more and
loving Him more. No one less than the Son of God loved me and gave Himself for
me.
Also, if we come to the Lord’s
Table knowing that we have recently failed Him and are truly sorry, we receive,
through the bread and wine, a stronger assurance that we have been forgiven. The
Lord’s Supper lays on us a definite obligation to live faithfully and
obediently for Him in front of the world. We profess, by our participation, that
we are saved and are His people and so we ought to live like that during the
week.
All this means that if we
partake of the Lord’s Supper in a prayerful and thoughtful way our
relationship with the Lord will be deepened. So the ordinance becomes a means of
blessing to us.
The church is to observe the
Lord’s Supper “until he comes”. In other words, we not only look back to
the Lord’s death, but forward to His second coming (Matthew 26:29, 1
Corinthians 11:26).
Who should come to the Lord’s Supper and how should they come?
Obviously only Christians ought to come to the Lord’s Supper (though there is no reason why others should not attend the service and see what takes place). No one should pretend to be saved if he is not really a Christian.
But should people be baptised first of all? There has been a lot of debate about this over the years. In the New Testament, baptism came first (Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:38-42). Also the symbolism of the ordinances points to that order – the beginning of the Christian life comes before continuing, the new birth comes before growing in Christ. But others say that if people belong to the Lord they should not be prevented from coming to His Table. Perhaps the best way is to invite all Christians to come to the Lord’s Table (as long as they are walking in fellowship with Him). But if they do not belong to any other church and intend to come regularly to the Lord’s Supper, they should be warmly encouraged to be baptised as soon as possible. It is the Lord’s will that we should observe both ordinances and we have no right to obey the one but not the other. They are of equal importance and we cannot pick and choose if Christ is really Lord of our lives. If we love Him we shall keep His commandments (John 14:15). If people were baptised soon after they came to know Christ, as happened in New Testament times, the problem would not arise.
When we come to the Lord’s Table we ought to make sure that there is nothing between the Lord and us, e.g. no unforgiven sin or wilful disobedience to His known will.
Also we ought to make sure that there is nothing between us and other people sitting with us at the Table. We cannot honestly partake of the same bread signifying our unity in Christ if we are not on speaking terms! While we may not agree with someone about everything, the important thing is that we are in a right and truly Christian relationship with him/her. Matters should be put right with another Christian if something has upset our relationship, before we take part in the Lord’s Supper.
This last point reminds us again that we come to the Lord’s Table as members of God’s family (Acts 2:42, 1 Corinthians 11:17, 18, 20, 33, 34). It is the supreme expression of our fellowship in Him. (This explains why in some churches an offering is made for people in need and prayer is offered for church members who are ill, why people are received into membership at the Lord’s Table, and why a member who is under discipline is asked not to come to the Lord’s Table).
All these things underline the importance of preparing ourselves carefully (1 Corinthians 11:27,28) before we come to the Lord’s Supper. It will never have any real meaning for us if we come thoughtlessly or out of habit (Psalm 66:18). We need to think very carefully and reverently about what we are doing.
Our attitude to the Lord’s Table is a good barometer of our spiritual life.
