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What the Supper Is
The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment, his death is showed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.
Westminster Shorter Catechism Q&A 96
On the night he was betrayed, Jesus gave bread and the cup to his disciples and told his church to keep doing it until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). It is his meal, not ours.
It is not a bare memorial, as if we only thought about a death long ago. The bread and wine stay truly bread and wine, and Christ’s body is not in them or under them (WCF 29.5, 29.7). But he is present spiritually to the faith of the believer, as really as the bread is present to your hand and mouth, and the believer truly feeds on Christ crucified and all the benefits of his death (WCF 29.7). Nor is it a fresh sacrifice. Christ offered himself once for all on the cross, and the Supper remembers that one offering (WCF 29.2, Hebrews 10:10-14). The bread does not become his body, and the Confession calls that teaching, transubstantiation, contrary to Scripture and to common sense (WCF 29.6). So come expecting to meet him by faith.
Let a Man Examine Himself
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
1 Corinthians 11:27-29 (KJV)
Paul wrote to a church that had made the Supper an ordinary meal. Some ate their fill while the poor went hungry, and some were drunk (1 Corinthians 11:20-22). Those were the particular ways Corinth sinned at the table. Paul’s warning reaches further than their case. To eat unworthily is to come irreverently in any form, carelessly, or holding to a sin you mean to keep, treating the holy things of Christ as common.
It does not mean that you must be worthy in yourself before you come. No one is. The word unworthily describes the manner of coming, not the man. A believer who comes grieved over his sin and trusting Christ’s merit alone comes worthily, though he feels himself the least of all.
Notice where the command ends. Not stay away, but and so let him eat. Examination is the road to the table, not around it. Even when God disciplined the Corinthians, it was a Father’s correction, so that they should not be condemned with the world (11:31-32).
If You Doubt Whether You Should Come
Many tender believers stay away because they are not sure they are in Christ. The Larger Catechism speaks to them.
Read the full confessional statement
One who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation to the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, may have true interest in Christ, though he be not yet assured thereof; and in God’s account hath it, if he be duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it, and unfeignedly desires to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity: in which case (because promises are made, and this sacrament is appointed, for the relief even of weak and doubting Christians) he is to bewail his unbelief, and labor to have his doubts resolved; and, so doing, he may and ought to come to the Lord’s supper, that he may be further strengthened.
Westminster Larger Catechism Q&A 172
If you grieve that you do not feel sure, and truly want to be found in Christ and done with your sin, God counts you as having what you fear you lack. The Supper was made for weak believers too. Bring your doubts to God, ask your elders for help with them, and come, so that you may be strengthened. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37). If your doubts run deep, read Am I Really His.
Who Should Not Come
The table is not open to everyone. Those who are ignorant or scandalous, even if they profess the faith and want to come, may and ought to be kept from it by the power Christ left in his church, until they are taught and show that they have turned (WLC 173). The scandalous are those who live in open sin and will not leave it. Wicked men may eat the bread, but they do not receive Christ, and they eat to their own harm (WCF 29.8).
That is why Reformed churches guard the table through their elders. Before the Supper the minister usually fences the table. He warns the impenitent not to come, and he invites every sinner who mourns his sin and trusts Christ to come gladly. That is care, not coldness.
If you are visiting a church, speak to the elders beforehand. If you trust Christ but have never professed your faith before a church, talk to the elders about joining. And if you have never come to Christ at all, the first thing is not the table but the Savior. Read the gospel and come to him.
How to Prepare
The Week Before
Prepare by examining yourself, by renewing the exercise of your graces, and by serious meditation and fervent prayer (WLC 171).
- Examine yourself. Ask whether you are in Christ, what your sins and needs are, and how you are growing in knowledge, faith, repentance, love, and new obedience. How to Examine Yourself gives questions drawn from this same answer.
- Confess what you find. Name your sins before God, and turn from them.
- Make peace. Forgive those who wronged you. If someone has something against you, go to him first (Matthew 5:23-24).
- Stir up your faith. Read Isaiah 53 or Matthew 27, and think on what it cost him.
- Pray for the table. Ask God to meet you there, and pray for your minister.
The Lord’s Day Morning
- Rise in time. Do not rush in late. See How to Keep the Lord’s Day.
- Pray before you leave. Ask for a hungry heart and a clear eye on Christ.
- Hear the sermon and the fencing as meant for you. Let the warning search you and the invitation draw you.
At the Table
Wait on God with holy reverence, watch the bread and wine and what is done with them, discern the Lord’s body, and meditate on his death and sufferings (WLC 174).
- Watch and think. The bread broken pictures his body given. The cup poured pictures his blood shed. What is pictured is real. He truly died for sinners.
- Mourn your sin and feed on Christ. As you eat and drink with your mouth, trust him with your heart. Receive him, rest on his merit, and rejoice in his love.
- Give thanks and renew your vows. Give yourself to him again, and love the brothers and sisters who eat beside you (1 Corinthians 10:17).
Afterward
Look back on how you came and what came of it (WLC 175).
- If you found comfort, bless God for it. Ask him to keep it, watch against slipping back, and keep the promises you made.
- If you felt nothing, do not despair. Look again at how you prepared and how you came. If you were sincere, wait for the fruit in God’s time. If you were careless, be humbled, and come next time with more care.
- Look forward to the next time. Come often, as the Catechism urges, and keep showing forth his death till he come (1 Corinthians 11:26).