Communion as Shared Community

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 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.' In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
(I Corinthians 11:23-26)

Communion is an expression of the believing community's faith in Christ and his promises. Jesus instituted communion on the night he was betrayed (Matthew 26:26-28; I Corinthians 11:23). It was during the Jewish Passover that Christ shared the elements with his disciples, the bread and cup. Passover was the annual celebration for Israel to remember how God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12:1-14; Deuteronomy 16:1). The Passover was instituted by God the night that sparked their exodus from Egypt. Blood from the Passover lamb marked the doorframes of those being saved from God's wrath upon the Egyptians. Following the exodus, they were commanded to keep the Passover in remembrance of what God had promised and done. It was a reminder of God's covenant with the people of Israel.

Just as God instituted the Passover in Egypt to mark those being delivered from His wrath, so Christ gave communion as a reminder (Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 11:24) of his death for the sins of the world (I Corinthians 15:3; Galatians 1:4; I Peter 2:24), the symbol of his blood (Hebrews 9:14; I Peter 1:19; I John 1:7; Revelation 1:5) which marks those who will be saved from God's wrath in the day of judgment. When we break the bread, we remember Christ's body broken for us on the cross; that he died to take away our sins. As we take the cup (whether wine or grape juice), we remember the covenant marked by Christ's blood through which God promises that we will be delivered from His coming judgment and that we will enter into eternal life. Every time we share communion as a community we are to receive the elements as an expression of faith, as a testimony, as a reminder, and as an encouragement to endure to the end. In communion we continue to proclaim Christ's death until he returns (I Corinthians 11:26), thus recalling and proclaiming his promise to return (Matthew 16:24; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; Hebrews 9:28).

Growth towards Christian maturity

No Part in Christ

Before we are part of the community of believers, we have no share in the body and blood of Christ (Romans 8:5; Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 3:6-7; Titus 3:3). Even hearing someone mention the body and blood of Christ sounds ridiculous, even foreign in our ears (John 6:32-60). This is because we have no understanding of God's covenant with Israel, the Passover, Christ's life, death, and resurrection, or of him instituting communion on the night he was betrayed. We are blind and ignorant of the things of Christ. We have no interest in his body and blood, nor do we benefit from them.

Christ's Invitation

If we are to mature in Christ, hearing the Lord Jesus Christ's invitation to know and follow him becomes our first step towards the community of faith. While the invitation ultimately comes from Christ himself, it comes through his Church and the Bible. It meets when the gospel is proclaimed, announcing God's kingdom, salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life. It penetrates our heart and mind as the very truth of God, leading us to trust the good news we hear (Romans 10:8-14). Through Christ's invitation (Matthew 8:22; Matthew 9:9; Matthew 19:21; John 1:43), we become his disciple, one of his followers, and learn to live for him who died and was raised from the dead instead of for ourselves (II Corinthians 5:14-15; Romans 4:25; Romans 6:11; Romans 14:8). Regular participation in a Christian community's gatherings is an important part of our growth in Christ. We gather with a local body of believers, enter that community through baptism, and collectively share communion. Remembering the night he was betrayed, we join the sacred act he initiated as we eat the bread (which is his body) and drink from the cup (which is his blood), proclaiming the Lord's death until he returns (I Corinthians 11:23-26). The frequency of communion and the requirements to participate vary based on the church we attend. Some churches expect us to be a baptized member of that church, while other churches only insist on a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the first few centuries, one's first communion came immediately after baptism since only those committed to Christ who had been discipled and baptized by the Church were able to participate. Whatever the particulars of our church, one thing is common, communion is communal , it is not a solo activity. It is shared together as a gathered community. Salvation leads us to share in communion as part of a church. Not receiving communion calls into question our faith and salvation. In communion we gratefully remember what Christ has done and expectantly look forward to what he will do. Having been saved by grace, not by works so that we cannot boast in ourselves (Ephesians 2:4-9), communion is the primary means by which we boast of Christ (II Corinthians 12:9-10; Galatians 6:14; Philippians 3:7). Communion does not save us, but it may reveal that Christ? salvation applies to us. Sadly, there are people who regularly share in communion, who are neither grateful nor transformed by what Christ has done, nor are they remembering him (Matthew 7:17-19; James 2:18-24). But as we mature in Christ, we receive communion with a sense of joy, and an awareness that it is a serious and sacred act.

Lord and Savior

Our understanding of Christ deepens as we encounter Jesus as our Savior through communion, remembering that when he died he took upon himself our sins and thus the death we deserve (II Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13-14; I Peter 2:21-24; I John 3:5). Communion calls us to remember Christ and what he has done. We take the bread and the cup which remind us of his broken body and poured out blood. We grasp that his sacrificial love (Romans 5:8) is not earned nor can it ever be. Seeing the depth of our own sin and the sin of the world, we recognize that no one deserves his grace, mercy, and love, and that apart from Christ there is no hope for this world. Though we cannot put it into words, in communion we sometimes experience God's presence at a deeper and more significant level which draws us closer to him. Sometimes we focus on ourselves, our failures and faults, knowing our need for Christ to save us. Other times we focus on him and the mercy, grace, and truth he brings, pondering how profound a truth it is that he came to save the world (Matthew 18:11; Matthew 20:28; Luke 9:56; John 3:17; John 12:47). Our surrender to Christ as our Lord can also deepen when we receive communion. Joining in this sacred act, we consider that it was Jesus who chose this means to communicate God's grace. He equated the bread with his body and the cup with his blood. He said that his life was not being taken from him, but that he laid it down for those he loved (John 10:11; I John 3:16), showing that the greatest love is in his laying down his life for his friends (John 10:15; John 15:13). The lordship of Jesus Christ is seen in his command that his disciples share communion in remembrance of him. Following his resurrection, he revealed himself to two men on the road to Emmaus when he broke bread (Luke 24:30-31). Christ gave us communion as the means through which his Church is strengthened so we may endure until he returns (Matthew 16:27; John 14:3; Acts 1:11). Communion is a reminder that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. He is Lord of all.

Proclaiming Christ

As long as we are alive, we should never stop sharing communion as part of the body of Christ. We may be physically unable to participate, but we should never knowingly choose to avoid the assembly of believers (Acts 2:42; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25), for it is when we assemble that we participate in communion together, and continue to proclaim Christ's death until he returns. Maturity means noticing that one of the mysteries of faith is how God uses communion to remind us of the gospel and challenges us to share His message with others. Communion can strengthen and stir our faith by reminding us that the world needs to hear the good news of Christ (Acts 1:8). It says that we are set apart by and for Christ, in order to live for him, not for ourselves (Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:24; Colossians 3:3), and that every one of us is commissioned by our Lord Jesus Christ to go and make disciples. Collectively we proclaim Christ as we receive communion together. For it is Christ who is our common union. Faith in him binds us, calls us to love one another, exhorts us to forgive each other, and sustains us as his ambassadors who entreat people to be reconciled to God (II Corinthians 5:20). As we profess faith in Christ we find the Holy Spirit empowering, emboldening, and exciting us as we tell others about him (Acts 4:31). Together we joyfully get the word out about Christ. We ask the Lord to send workers into the field to gather the harvest and to even send us (Luke 10:2; Isaiah 6:8). Faith in Christ that is mature participates in the life of his body, to bring others to him through every means possible, including communion.