3 short questions about the Lord's Supper and who shoul

[Jie-Huli]

Greetings Brethren,

I have a few short questions about the proper observance of the Lord's Supper (prompted by some variety in the practices I have seen), and hope that some of you might have the chance to answer one or more of them:

1) Should individuals who have come to faith but not yet been baptised be allowed to participate in the Lord's Supper?
If someone had a question about this, which Scripture passages would you use to prove the correct practice?

2) If a "professing" Christian is living a lifestyle of sin such as fornication, but still goes to participate in the Lord's Supper, should this be left up to the individual's conscience, or does the church have the responsibility to prohibit this individual from participating? What if the elders do not know of the situation? Would any Christian in the Church who knows of the situation (even if it was revealed in confidence) have the responsibility to inform the elders in order to prevent the individual from participating? I have in mind a situation where the individual is not actually a member of the church, but a student from another place attending the church while living in the city.

3) May any bread be used for communion, or must it be unleavened bread?

 

[C. Matthew McMahon]

1) No. (In my estimation). It is a privilege of membership. (all verses surrounding baptism and church membership could be covered here). The question is bigger than the supper - it has to do with church privileges and the covenant community.

2) If the elders do not know, then what can they do? If they do know, yes, it would be up to them to speak with the person. The idea here would be surrounding "discerning the Lord's body." If someone was spoken to in confidence, that sin should have been nipped in the bud right there - the person should have said, "I cannot hold this in confidence. it is sin. You need to repent or I have to inform the elders." church disciplinary measures apply there.

3) Common wine and unleavened bread. But how far shall we go if we are under duress? Can Calvin use a piece of ordinary bread in the cave outside the city if that is all he and the brethren have to participate? Yes. Ideally, unleavened bread, for symbolic reasons, would be more appropriate though.

 

[Jie-Huli]

[quote:44007f3403][i:44007f3403]Originally posted by webmaster[/i:44007f3403]
2) If the elders do not know, then what can they do? If they do know, yes, it would be up to them to speak with the person. The idea here would be surrounding "discerning the Lord's body." If someone was spoken to in confidence, that sin should have been nipped in the bud right there - the person should have said, "I cannot hold this in confidence. it is sin. You need to repent or I have to inform the elders." church disciplinary measures apply there.
[/quote:44007f3403]

Thank you for your helpful replies.

Bur forgive me now for bringing this second question out of the world of hypotheticals now so that I might gain a little bir more clear guidance.

The individual at issue did speak with an elder about whether living with someone before marriage is really a sin, and he of course told the person that it is. But they did not discuss participation in the Lord's Supper. As this is a large church, this elder may not be aware that this individual does participate in the Lord's Supper services.

This person also sought me out to ask what I thought about the issue of fornication, and I told the person it was absolutely forbidden by God's Word and urged the person to repent. But I know that this has not yet happened. I actually did not tell this individual I was taking this information into confidence.

It is only since the individual spoke to me that I myself have become aware that the individual participates in every occasion of the Lord's Supper. I am very troubled to see this, especially when I consider Paul's exhortations in 1 Cor. Chapter 6, but am unsure what I myself should do.

The person is not a church member here, but this church invites all evangelical Christians to participate in the Lord's Supper.

So given that a leading elder knows of this person's sins, what should I as a mere attender (also not an official member of this church, as I am here temporarily) do about the situation?

 

[fredtgreco]

Bread

Jie-Huli,

See my post in this thread regarding leavened bread:

http://www.puritanboard.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=4533

I think the symbolism of "one loaf" is for more important than continuing Jewish ritual. The text points to leavened bread.

 

[JonathonHunt]

Jie

As a former member of the church to which you refer, (a part of my heart is a member still) I urge you to raise this matter as a thing of urgency with the Pastor or one of the other elders (you know who they are). You MUST do this, whether it breaks a 'confidence' or not. The elders already know about the sin, so you are not telling them what they don't know - you just need to highlight the fact that this unrepentant brother is doing wrong in participating.

Do it as soon as possible. Place a call to the church today, or speak to someone on Wednesday. If you can't get hopld of an elder, speak to one of the deacons.

Please!

Best wishes

Jonathan

PS - to outsiders who might think it odd that elders don't notice everyone who is participating in the supper, several hundred are participating at once. Church members have a 'communion card' (on the pew with them), and visitors 'Who are members of other evangelical (read 'reformed' for this much-maligned term!) churches' are invited to speak to a deacon before the Lord's table, and obtain a 'communion card'. Whilst believing in an open table for believers, the church has this 'formal' barrier to try and weed out insincere and inappropriate participation.

 

[sastark]

[quote:31b60c338e][i:31b60c338e]Originally posted by webmaster[/i:31b60c338e]

3) Common wine and unleavened bread....Ideally, unleavened bread, for symbolic reasons, would be more appropriate though. [/quote:31b60c338e]

Why unleavened bread? I realize the symbolism of continuation of the Passover. But the Lord's Supper is a new sacrament (boy, I hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot with that one). Hence, "this cup is the [i:31b60c338e]new[/i:31b60c338e] covenant in my blood..."

Feel free to point me to previous threads if this has already been discussed.

[quote:31b60c338e][i:31b60c338e]Originally posted by fredtgreco
[/i:31b60c338e]
Jie-Huli,

See my post in this thread regarding leavened bread:

http://www.puritanboard.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=4533

I think the symbolism of "one loaf" is for more important than continuing Jewish ritual. The text points to leavened bread.
[/quote:31b60c338e]

Fred,

I clicked on the link in your post, but I didn't see any posts from you in the other thread. Am I going blind?

<-----(Me blind)

 

[sastark]

Fred,

Please ignore my question about the other thread! I failed to click on "Page 2" of the thread. Doh!

 

[Jie-Huli]

[quote:5d29c687a5][i:5d29c687a5]Originally posted by JonathanHunt[/i:5d29c687a5]
Jie

As a former member of the church to which you refer, (a part of my heart is a member still) I urge you to raise this matter as a thing of urgency with the Pastor or one of the other elders (you know who they are). You MUST do this, whether it breaks a 'confidence' or not. The elders already know about the sin, so you are not telling them what they don't know - you just need to highlight the fact that this unrepentant brother is doing wrong in participating.

Do it as soon as possible. Place a call to the church today, or speak to someone on Wednesday. If you can't get hopld of an elder, speak to one of the deacons.

Please!

Best wishes

Jonathan

PS - to outsiders who might think it odd that elders don't notice everyone who is participating in the supper, several hundred are participating at once. Church members have a 'communion card' (on the pew with them), and visitors 'Who are members of other evangelical (read 'reformed' for this much-maligned term!) churches' are invited to speak to a deacon before the Lord's table, and obtain a 'communion card'. Whilst believing in an open table for believers, the church has this 'formal' barrier to try and weed out insincere and inappropriate participation. [/quote:5d29c687a5]

Thank you for your counsel, Jonathan. I will to speak to the Pastor about it later in the week. I see now I probably should have done so earlier, I just felt a little unsure of what it was my role to do, as I have not encountered this exact problem before.

Blessings,
Jie-Huli