chapterSIX: Going to the Table

"Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." 1 Corinthians 6:28

Ryle writes about the sobering truths in the taking of Communion which so many of us today do not fully understand, misinterpret, and take for granted.

I. Why was the Lord's supper ordained?

• It was ordained "for the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby." (NOT an offering!)
• He that eats that bread and drinks that wine is reminded, in the most striking and forcible manner of the benefits Christ has obtained for his soul, and of the death of Christ as the hinge and turning point on which all those benefits depend.
• The New Testament does NOT say that the Lord's Supper was ordained to be a sacrifice, and that in it Christ's body and blood are present under the forms of bread and wine. The natural body and blood of Christ are in heaven, and not here. The universal doctrine of the New Testament is that after the one offering of Christ there remains no more need of sacrifice.

II. Who ought to go to the Table and be communicants?

• It is not right to urge all baptized persons to become communicants. It is a solemn ordinance, and solemnly it ought to be used. Ignorance can never be the mother of acceptable worship, and an ignorant communicant who comes to the Lord's Table without knowing why he comes, is altogether in the wrong place.
• Sinners living in open sin, and determined not to give it up, ought on no account to come to the Lord's Table. It is nonsense to profess we desire to remember Christ's death, while we cling to the accursed thing which made it needful for Christ to die. 
• Self-righteous people, who think that they are to be saved by their own works, have no business to come to the Lord's Table. The Communion Service of the Church bids all communicants declare that "they do not presume to come to the Table trusting in their own righteousness, but in God's manifold and great mercies."--It tells them to say,--"We are no worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Thy table,"--"the remembrance of our sins is grievous unto us; the burden of them is intolerable."
• A worthy communicant is one who possesses 3 simple marks: repentance, faith, and charity. As long as they are genuine and real, they should be received as communicants, regardless of the quantity of grace they possess.

III. What may communicants expect from the Lord's Supper?

• There is much ignorance that fills the minds of men about the Lord's Supper.
• The man who walks up to a communion rail, and eats the bread and drinks the wine, as a mere matter of form, because the minister tells him, without and clear idea of what it all means, derives no benefit. He might as well stay at home!
• Many are under delusive ideas that physically taking the sacrament will take away their sins! (Hence the annual visit to "wipe off a year's worth of sins," and the taking of the sacrament on the deathbed.)

**The Lord's Supper was not given to be a means either of justification or of conversion. It was never meant to give grace where there is no grace already, or to provide pardon when pardon is not already enjoyed. The Lord's Supper was meant to increase and help the grace that a man has, but not to impart the grace that he has not; for "the strengthening and refreshing of our souls." It was certainly never intended to make our peace with God, to justify, or to convert.


Right reception has a humbling, cheering, sanctifying, and restraining effect on the soul.

IV. Why it is that many so-called Christians never come to the Lord's Supper?

1. Many are not communicants because they are utterly careless and thoughtless about religion, and ignorant of the very first principles of Christianity. They go to church, as a matter of form, because other people go; but they neither know, nor care anything about what is done at church!
2. Many are not communicants because they know they are living in the habitual practice of some sin, or in the habitual neglect of some Christian duty. They feel unfit to come to the Table of the Lord... and they are right! I warn these people not to forget that if  they are unfit for the Lord's Supper they are unfit to die, and that if they die in their present condition they will be lost eternally. 
3. Some are not communicants because they fancy it will add to their responsibility. They fear that after coming forward and making a profession, that they might fall away, and bring scandal on the cause of Christianity. They think its wisest not to commit themselves. However while they avoid responsibility of one kin they incur responsibility of another kind; they are responsible for open disobedience to a command of Christ.
4. Some are not communicants because they fancy they are not yet worthy. They forget that the Lord's Supper was not intended for unsinning angels, but for men and women compassed with infirmity, dwelling in a world full of temptations, and needing mercy and grace every day they live. A sense of our own utter unworthiness i the best worthiness we an bring to the Communion rail. No man is a really worthy communicant who does not deeply feel that he is a "miserable sinner."
5. Some object to be communicants because they see others coming to the Lord's Table who are not worthy, and not in a right state of mind. It is setting up ourselves in the most unhealthy attitude of judging others. It is depriving ourselves of a great privilege merely because other profane it and make a bad use of it. It is pretending to be wiser than our Master Himself. It is taking up ground for which there is no warrant in Scripture. 

• Not a single reason among the five deserves to be called "good," and which does not condemn the man who gives it.

Warnings:

1. Do not neglect the Lord's Supper. Judgment is yet to come, and what man can look forward to that day if he has refused all his life to meet Christ in His own ordinance?
2. Do not receive the Lord's Supper carelessly. He who does is committing a great sin and robbing himself of a great blessing.
3. Do not make and idol of the Lord's Supper. It is NOT the principle ordinance in Christianity. Repentance, conversion, faith, salvation, and grace are far more important; the penitent thief was not a communicant, and Judas Iscariot was.
4. Do not use the Lord's Supper irregularly. Never be absent with Communion is administered. Regular use of every means of grace is essential to the prosperity of our souls.
5. Do not do anything to bring discredit on your profession as a communicant. Do not be a walking sermon on behalf of the devil. 
6. Do not despond and be cast down, if with all your desires you do not feel to get great good from the Lord's Supper.

Ryle, J. C. "Going To The Table." 2009. Practical Religion. Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1998. 140-164. Print.