The LORD’s Supper – our Responsibility
We are thankful for the baptismal candidates who will take their step of obedience in going through the water of baptism in the course of Nov/Dec. Covid-19 may constrain the number of candidates per session but it will not deter our faithful ones from wanting to make their faithful commitment.
As in our practice, all newly baptised believers are invited to participate together with the assembly for the Lord’s Supper on every Sunday.
The participation is not just a privilege but it is also an act of responsibility for true believers in the Lord. It is an experience of the new birth, of the knowledge of sins forgiven and of salvation through the death of Christ. Without it, the Supper is void of meaning or value. In years past, some churches have “door keeper” to greet and “question” strangers in a kindly way and to make sure that no unsaved persons are permitted to partake of the emblems. At the same time, he should ensure all who bring to Christ and who are sound in faith and walk, that as children of God they are (welcomed to take their place at the family feast (1 Cor 5:12). With Covid-19, we have been kept away from physically meeting together to have the fellowship of the Lord’s Supper. It is our prayers that with the opening up of more numbers on Sundays’ services, let us not miss out on this privilege and responsibility that God has given to us.
The time together to partake of the emblems is also a time of self-judgment on the part of each one of us. “Let a man examine himself”. We do not partake of the Supper on the ground of worthiness in ourselves, it is a feast which commemorates the worthiness of the One who has died for us, and all who put their trust in Him are accepted in the worth of His sacrifice.
On the ground of relationship, just as children of a family have their place at their father ‘s table (John 1:12, 13), we have a place at the Lord’s Supper. It is like a father of a large well-ordered family would indeed be happy to see all his children in their respective places at the dinner table, ready to partake of the food set before them. But if one or two appeared with soiled or dirty hands, he would tell such to go and wash their hands first and then return to partake of the meal, but NOT to stay away.
On exercising self-judgment, if one is conscious of having wronged any man, he should go before and make things right as far as lies in him (Matt 5:23, 24). If one is wronged toward God only, he should confess his sin and wrong to God and claim the Father’s forgiveness (1 John 1:9). Hence, self-judgment comes before our participation of the emblems. Surely then, it should be evident to all that our partaking at the Lord’s Supper involves an act of responsibility on our part.
We rejoice together with our new assembly believers who have decided to take the step of obedience in following the ordinances that our Lord Jesus has commanded us to do. Let us as one body in Christ encourage their journey by setting ourselves to walk alongside them as well. Let us not to (delete) forget the privilege and responsibility of wanting to meet for mutual encouragement and around the Lord’s Supper Sunday after Sunday.
We continue to pray for the revealing of God’s will in regard to Covid-19 and we look forward to the day when we are back to having more physical numbers gathered in church.
Andrew Lim
