Why Our Church Celebrates The Lord's Supper Every Week

Why we celebrate the Lord's Supper Every Week by Trent Roseman.

At Redeemer City Church, we partake of the Lord's Supper every week, and here are four reasons why.

Reason number one, because the early church devoted themselves to the Lord's Supper every week.

Now you might say, the Bible doesn't explicitly command we take it every week, and you are kind of right.

But Scripture teaches us the early church took the meal every week.

See Acts two, forty two to forty seven, Acts twenty verse seven, first Corinthians eleven, twenty through thirty-four, and early church writings confirm their tradition continued for hundreds of years in local churches.

See the Didicky in 14.1, Justin Martyr's first apology in AD 155, and the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus in AD 215.

So the argument then should not be why should we take the Lord's Supper every week?

But rather, why should we deviate from New Testament examples in early church practice?

The early church gathered for the Lord's Supper.

If we take the early church's devotion to and practice of the Lord's Supper as more than a suggestion, we should strongly consider including the Lord's Supper in our weekly gatherings.

Reason number two Because preparing the Lord's Supper is not a difficult or laborious task.

I've heard it before.

We don't celebrate the Lord's Supper every week because of the time and coordination it takes to prepare it.

Let me respond in brief.

It doesn't take that much time.

Pastors will often spend ten, fifteen, even twenty hours in sermon preparation.

And deacons, while employed throughout the week, are called to and deputized to carry out such a physical task in a local church, and I cannot think of a reason it would take more than twenty minutes with a proportionate number of deacons.

Reason number three.

Because we believe there can be good in ritual and routine.

One of the most common pushbacks to the weekly observance of the Lord's Supper is that it may become ritualistic and nothing more than a routine.

Leaving behind the fact that we don't make that argument for preaching, singing, or passing an empty offering plate, maybe the routine is right.

Let me explain.

Every night before Judah, my son, goes to bed, we read scripture, pray, and then I say, We can sleep, to which he responds, because God doesn't.

It's a routine, a ritual, but a beautiful one.

Yes, he can say the words mindlessly, just as we can sit in any sermon with our mind turned off, but I am impressing upon him truth that by repetition he will never forget.

The meal of remembrance is a meal we're supposed to take often, so that we remember and never forget.

One more illustration.

Every morning before my wife and I depart for our work responsibilities, we share a kiss.

Can that kiss become routine?

Sure.

But it's a ritual of love.

Some days we're rushed and the kiss doesn't feel uniquely special.

That's okay.

One day, though, when the Lord takes one of us home, the other will fondly remember that every morning kiss, and I trust it will be a treat to remember that ritual until I see her and she sees me.

Reason number four.

Because we believe Christ meets with us in this meal.

We are not Catholic or Lutheran.

We do not believe in transubstantiation or consubstantiation.

However, we do believe, along with the majority of church history and its early fathers, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Athanasius, Basil, Augustine, and so on, that Jesus meets with us as we partake of it, just as he meets with us when we open his word together and worship, and when we go through seasons and situations of church discipline.

The Lord's Supper may function as a physical symbol, but it's a sweet memorial meal where the Lord is spiritually present with his people as they draw near to one another.

See 1 Corinthians 10, 16 through 17.

Think about it.

You've heard and maybe even said a variation of the following statement to yourself.

While we don't base the closeness of Christ on our subjective feelings, maybe, just maybe, the reason we sometimes feel far from the Lord is because we're so irregularly meeting him at his table.

Maybe our hunger for Jesus' presence is intended to in some way be satiated when we eat and when we drink.

In conclusion, in the Lord's Supper we look back to Christ's death, remembering together lest we forget, we partake in remembrance of him.

In the Lord's Supper we look forward together, anticipating Christ's second coming, so that our hope for the future isn't eclipsed by sin or our church's present problems.

Jesus said, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

See Matthew twenty-six twenty-nine.

So then the Lord's Supper is like a weekly appetizer to satisfy our hunger as we await the guest of honor to arrive for the marriage.

Lastly, in the Lord's Supper, we look outward together.

As often as we take the Lord's Supper, we proclaim his death until he comes.

The Lord's Supper is an evangelistic meal that begs questions from our kids and from unbelievers who may attend on a Sunday.

We want people to ask why we eat and drink, so we might give the reason for the hope within us.

First Peter 3 15.

I want to look back more.

I want our church to look forward more, and I want more chances to proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.