The Significant Supper pt. 1

Jon Williams

Worship to God is often taken too lightly! We see this in the scriptures with examples like Nadab and Abihu in Lev. 10 and Cain in Gen. 4. These individuals left an unworthy example behind that many people still follow today. Worship is changed, altered and adapted to the culture to become “entertaining” and “appealing” to the modern audience, rather than approved by the eternal God. This is so common that we would be caught off guard to see someone on the other side of this issue; someone having too high a view of worship, or at least, a specific part. For a number of reasons, many people still hold great reverence for the Lord’s Supper. So much, in fact, that they elevate it to the highest status of worship:

“I may not make it to services for the opening prayer and first few songs; but as long as I make it for the Lord’s Supper, I am good.”

“I have an appointment I am going to be late for on Sunday afternoon! I will just depart services immediately after the communion is offered.”

Even when people want to deviate from God’s original pattern of worship, there is still a reluctance to forsake the Lord’s Supper. However, this is not essentially a “good thing” since it gives some the motivation to think less of the other acts of worship. While questions regarding instrumental music, what we preach, who we pray to and how much we ought to give on the first day of the week are all important matters to address, we need to consider the precious feast of the Lord as well. Just how significant is the Lord’s Supper? Does it stand out from the other acts of worship in any way? How should we view or appreciate its significance?

What we ought to recognize is that there is a uniqueness to the partaking of the emblems of Christ; but not in the way of being more important. Have you ever considered the fact that the Communion is the only form of worship that never changes from Sunday to Sunday? Think about that for a moment. We don’t preach the same lesson every Sunday. Imagine if Paul in Acts 20:7 had preached a lesson till midnight that he had already taught to the brethren several times before; they would struggle even more to stay awake! We don’t pray together about the exact same things every Sunday. We don’t sing the exact same songs every Sunday. And when it comes to the collection, because financial situations are variable, we don’t give the exact same amount of money every single Sunday. But each first day of the week, we always come together, eat the bread, drink of the cup, and remember the sacrifice of Christ.

God saw it appropriate that we could sing, pray and preach on different matters each worship session; and to give an unspecified portion of our earnings (1Cor. 16:1-2). But He desires that Christians not go any week without meditating upon the devastated body and poured out blood of Jesus Christ! The communion is the only constant in our regular worship. While that does not prove it to be more important, it does show that it is a Significant Supper.