The Lord's Supper...

However, I have only seen Deacons assist in the Lord's Supper.

 

The Lords Supper was given to the church. Therefore anyone the Pastor designates can serve

 

If you would allow me to expand on this topic a little...i would appreciate it.
In the church i'm pastoring there is a large segment who, for some reason or another, feel that the Lord's Supper is a church ordinance and should only be practiced within the confines of the church building. This means that those who are homebound would not be allowed to partake of the Lord's Supper due to not being in church. Recently this even stirred some water on the Associational level where a study committee was organized to research this.

What is your view on the Lord's Supper and where it should be served?

bobbyd

 

Well, let's see..

The first "Lord's Supper" wasn't in church or synagogue, it was in a banquet room.

If they passed the unleavened bread around the table, the disciples served each other, and they weren't deacons, they were simply Jesus' followers.

Jesus said "as oft as ye eat THIS bread" which literally was the Passover meal. So maybe we should have communion once a year, at home, on Holy Thursday, with the head of the household officiating?

Really, I think Christians of all traditions have elevated the Lord's Supper to what is normally done today because of a desire to grant it proper respect and gravity. Being led by the pastor and served by the deacons just makes it special, not mundane. And isn't that a good thing? Beause it does "Show the Lord's death, until He come again."

 

bobbyd, I recently posted the same topic on the pastoral ministries thread and got some very favorable responses. Here it is: http://www.baptistboard.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/12/770.html

 

WCF ch 27

I. Sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace,[1] immediately instituted by God,[2] to represent Christ, and his benefits; and to confirm our interest in him:[3] as also, to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the church, and the rest of the world;[4] and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according to his Word.[5]

1. Rom. 4:11; Gen. 17:7, 10, 11
2. Matt. 28:19; I Cor. 11:23
3. Rom. 6:3-4; Col. 2:12; I Cor. 10:16; 11:25-26; Gal. 3:27
4. Exod. 12:48; Gen. 34:14; I Cor. 10:21
5. Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:27; I Peter 3:21; I Cor. 5:7-8; 10:16

II. There is, in every sacrament, a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified: whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.[6]

6. Gen. 17:10; Matt. 26:27-28; I Cor. 10:16-18

III. The grace which is exhibited in or by the sacraments rightly used, is not conferred by any power in them; neither doth the efficacy of a sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer it:[7] but upon the work of the Spirit,[8] and the word of institution, which contains, together with a precept authorizing the use thereof, a promise of benefit to worthy receivers.[9]

7. Rom. 2:28-29; I Peter 3:21
8. I Cor. 12:13
9. Matt. 26:26-28; 28:19-20; Luke 22:19-20; I Cor. 11:26

IV. There be only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, baptism, and the Supper of the Lord: neither of which may be dispensed by any, but by a minister of the Word lawfully ordained.[10]

10. Matt. 28:19; I Cor. 4:1; 11:20, 23; Eph. 4:11-12

V. The sacraments of the old testament, in regard of the spiritual things thereby signified and exhibited, were, for substance, the same with those of the new.[11]

11. I Cor. 10:1-4; Rom. 4:11; Col. 2:11-12

LBC ch 30

I. The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by Him the same night wherein He was betrayed, to be observed in His churches, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and shewing forth the sacrifice of Himself in His death,[1] confirmation of the faith of believers in all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in Him, their further engagement in, and to all duties which they owe to Him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with Him, and with each other.[2]

1. I Cor. 11:23-26
2. I Cor. 10:16-17, 21

II. In this ordinance Christ is not offered up to His Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all for remission of sin of the quick or dead, but only a memorial of that one offering up of Himself by Himself upon the cross, once for all;[3] and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same.[4] So that the popish sacrifice of the mass, as they call it, is most abominable, injurious to Christ's own sacrifice the alone propitiation for all the sins of the elect.

3. Heb. 9:25-26, 28
4. I Cor. 11:24; Matt. 26:26-27

III. The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed His ministers to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to a holy use, and to take and break the bread; to take the cup, and, they communicating also themselves, to give both to the communicants.[5]

5. I Cor. 11:23-26

IV. The denial of the cup to the people, worshipping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about for adoration, and reserving them for any pretended religious use, are all contrary to the nature of this ordinance, and to the institution of Christ.[6]

6. Matt. 26:26-28; 15:9; Exod. 20:4-5

V. The outward elements in this ordinance, duly set apart to the use ordained by Christ, have such relation to Him crucified, as that truly, although in terms used figuratively, they are sometimes called by the names of the things they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ,[7] albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly and only bread and wine, as they were before.[8]

7. I Cor. 11:27
8. I Cor. 11:26-28

VI. That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's body and blood, commonly called transubstantiation, by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant not to Scripture alone,[9] but even to common sense and reason, overthroweth the nature of the ordinance, and hath been, and is, the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries.[10]

9. Acts 3:21; Luke 24:6, 39
10. I Cor. 11:24-25

VII. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this ordinance, do them also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually receive, and feed upon Christ crucified, and all the benefits of His death; the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally, but spiritually present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.[11]

11. I Cor. 10:16; 11:23-26

VIII. All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Christ, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table, and cannot, without great sin against Him, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto;[12] yea, whosoever shall receive unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves.[13]

12. II Cor. 6:14-15
13. I Cor. 11:29; Matt. 7:6