July 27 – LD 30, Day 5: The Need for Supervision of the Lord’s
Table
by Rev Arie den Hartog
Read: Hebrews 13: 7 and 17 - 21
Up to now, we have been considering the need of every believer who comes to the
Lord’s Supper, to prepare himself through self examination. This is a deeply
personal calling and responsibility.
The elders of the church have the calling to supervise the administration of
the Lord’s Supper. I Cor 4:1 speaks
of the fact that the ministers of Christ are ‘stewards of the mysteries of
God’. In I Cor 11, where Paul gives extensive
instruction about the proper observance of the Lord’s Supper, he in fact
admonishes the whole church concerning this serious matter. Because the
Elders, properly elected and ordained in the church, receive their authority
from Christ and His apostles. The members of the church must submit to the
oversight of the elders.
The matter of who may come to the Supper of the Lord must not be left entirely
to the discretion of the members of the church. It is common in many churches,
that the only thing that is done to fulfill the calling of the elders to
supervise the Lord’s Supper, is to make a very general announcement before the
celebration of the Supper, that sincere Christians who have repented of their
sins and confessed faith in Jesus Christ, may come to the table of the Lord.
More is involved than this in the oversight of the elders.
The Lord’s Supper was given to be celebrated by the church spiritually. There
are hypocrites mixed with the true members of the church. This is Satan’s work
as the parable of the wheat and tares teach us.
The Lord’s Supper is not a public ceremony. It is not one to which the whole world
is invited. When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, he was in the upper room
in intimate fellowship with His disciples who by His grace,
were one with Him, believing in Him and keeping His commandments. It is
wonderful that true people of God join together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper
in close fellowship with the Lord and with each other.
Evil men and false teachers do not belong to this communion. We believe that
the right reading of the gospel accounts suggests that Judas was dismissed
before the Lord instituted the Supper. There are often those who join the
worship services, but do not know and acknowledge their sins. Some are ignorant
concerning the truth. Some, even though they know their sins, will not
acknowledge and confess their sins, and wrongly imagine that their sins need
not be confessed and repented of.
Christ, through His apostles, has appointed elders to have spiritual oversight
of the church. No one who will be a member of the church,
may despise this oversight and refuse to submit to it for his own spiritual
benefit and correction. The Lord has given to the elders the calling to watch
over the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, to guard the honor and glory of the
name of the Lord every time this sacrament is administered in the midst of His
church.