This marks the third time we are meeting to consider the Lords supper. So far I have endeavoured to highlight on the purpose of the ordinance and those who are eligible to partake in it. But today, I would like to take this opportunity to respond to some expectations that people have concerning the taking of the bread and wine.

This message will be like a sandwich between the part 2 and 3. And it was necessitated as a result of some interaction with fellow Christians concerning this topic. I now write to clear the air concerning the expectations one need to have and not to have when taking the communion. But before I press on, I also would like to make it clear that I only draw my understanding from the Bible and nowhere else. Neither do I base my messages on church doctrine nor on other preachers' wisdom but from the Word of God. And if you're waiting for me to conform my teachings to your presuppositions about the subject, then I am afraid I won't be of help.

DO NOT EXPECT JUSTIFICATION FROM THE BREAD AND WINE.

I thought It would be needless to preach salvation in this series because I believed we all had a firm grip of the basis of our salvation. But I think I have to. And to do this, let's visit the plain words of Paul to the Ephesians.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV)

Salvation is not of works. Not by any performance. No ordinance can guarantee anyone justification. Whether it being baptism, church attendance, fasting and prayer or even participation in the Lords Supper. Salvation is outside these and found in Christ alone. Not only is justification not found in these but also do not have any means to it.

Justification is found in Christ alone. We obtain it by grace alone through faith alone. Therefore it will be a great error to expect that by partaking in this ordinance, one might have their sins forgiven. It wasn't intended to perform justification and let's not make it up. The safest thing to do is to stay in the confines of scripture and stick to the purpose with which it was instituted by Christ. I agree with J. C Ryle when he said that

Another common idea among men is that, “taking the sacrament will help them to heaven, and take away their sins.” To this delusive idea you may trace up the habit in
some parishes of going to the sacrament once a year, in order, as an old farmer once
said, “to wipe off the year’s sins.” To this idea, again, you may trace the too common
practice of sending for a minister in time of sickness, in order to receive the sacrament
before death. Alas, how many take comfort about their relatives, after they have lived a
most ungodly life, for no better reason than this, that they took the sacrament when they were dying! Whether they repented and believed and had new hearts, they neither seem to know or care. All they know is that “they took the sacrament before they died.” My heart sinks within me when I hear people resting on such evidence as this.
Ideas like these are mournful proofs of the ignorance that fills the minds of men about the Lord’s Supper. They are ideas for which there is not the slightest warrant in Scripture…The sooner they are cast aside and given up, the better for the Church and
the world.

As to why some think by taking the blood their sins would be washed away I have no idea. It is not found in the bible. The ordinance is not meant to make sinners right with God. It's not a substitution for the death of Christ. It's a ceremony that marks His vicarious death and not the death itself.

Consider it this way. There is no point in thinking that the celebration of my birthday is the actual birth day. It is a day that marks a reality that has already taken place. The pain my mom went through cannot be compared with the merry making in the celebration of it. So is the Lords supper. It was intended to serve as a remembrance of his death. I am afraid some think that taking it will make one saved or give forgiveness. If that is the case, then Christ would've prevented his death and given us the Lords supper as a means for the washing of our sins.

This ordinance is performed by the already saved. It is performed by the one who has grace and not the one who has not. It is for the increasing of the grace God has given us and not for the impartation of grace one has not. If one is not saved, we don't ask them to take the bread and wine so that their sins will be washed by virtue of their obedience. We charge them to come to Christ with their sins, repent and believe in the death and resurrection.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM IT.

There are many expectations from this ordinance. Most of which has to do with our perception of what Christ has done for us. His death and atonement. A clearer view of our sinfulness. A clearer view of the body he shared for us. A clearer view of the blood he poured out for us and it's purpose. Having a clearer view of these will affect us in many ways.

• It humbles us. It is very humbling to know that God took on flesh, became servant and died for the Salvation of the whole world.

• It teaches us how to restrain ourselves from this world. We know that we must check ourselves to see if there is any sin lurking in us that's not repented of before we take the bread and wine. Having this mindset causes us to live a life of holiness.

I hope this message has helped you. Let us continue with the discussion in the comment section. God bless you.

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