of Christian Faith IX. The Sacraments

Presented by: Lost Sheep Ministries Prepared By: Jimmy Stanfield

IX. The Sacraments (or Ordinances) It is fitting to include a clarification of the doctrine of the sacraments in the hopes that more Christians will appreciate and be edified in their faith by a return to these marks of true Christianity. The lack of both the teaching and practice in fellowships such as the Charismatic's and also some fundamentalists, of the two great ordinances of the church, baptism and the Lord's supper, is alarming.

In the more Bible centered traditions, there has been, it must be admitted, something like neglect in the very important area of doctrine concerning the sacraments, sometimes referred to as ordinances. It is easy to see that this came about as a reaction against some of the traditional protestant denominations emphasis on the sacraments to the point of making them the cause of salvation. At John Wesley's testimony of his sudden and dramatic conversion to Christ by believing God's revelation in Jesus, Wesley announced, "Until that point, I was not a Christian at all." That was such a strange thing for an ordained minister to say that one of his hearers could stomach it no more and burst out, "Sir, take heed that you do not so despise the sacraments." In other words, that man thought that the sacraments, infant baptism, and communion, were what made a man a Christian while Wesley was saying “No, it is only by coming to personal faith in Christ that a man can become a child of God.”

At the same time, we must not react so far against this view that we refuse to teach, preach, or participate in the sacraments which after all, were ordained by Christ himself. The idea of a personal conversion was at one time, and in certain quarters still is, a radical notion and not at all very respectable. So we can see the mistakes of those who would have no more personal application of Christ's work in our lives than partaking of the sacraments and being a good member of the church.

The reformers, following their usual practice of throwing out everything not found in the Bible made the criteria for a sacrament to be: 1.) It must be scriptural and recognized by the church in the apostle's day, and 2.) The Lord Jesus Himself must have instituted it in order to qualify as a sacrament of the church. Obviously, this would leave nothing but baptism and communion and so in this the reformers were correct. The reformers defined a sacrament as an external sign whereby God assures us of his good will towards us, and we in turn testify of our faith in Him by participating in them.

BAPTISM: The sacrament or ordinance of baptism is first mentioned in the ministry of John the Baptist. John's ministry was to prepare Israel for the coming of the Messiah Jesus, and was basically a call to repentance. In Luke 7:30 we read "But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him." Therefore, the baptism in water itself was not what saved anyone but was an outward demonstration of the desire to turn from sin to God.

COMMUNION: The tendency in the fundamentalist as well as the Pentecostal traditions has been to focus on the communion being only in remembrance. It certainly is in remembrance but it is not ONLY in remembrance. The other of the two sacraments is the communion of the blood and body of Christ, sometimes called the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper.

Therefore, the communion is symbolic but is also spiritual in that the very real presence of the Holy Spirit makes Jesus real to us in the sacrament. When the church comes to assemble in His Name, we do this not merely in remembrance of Him although we certainly assemble partly in remembrance of Him, but not totally. We assemble not merely to remember the Savior who came and went long ago; we assemble in the expectation that His promise is true and that He walks in the midst of the churches and that He is truly present among us.

So while it is true that the last supper was the first communion, let us remember that the first communion was the last Passover. The Passover commemorated God's deliverance of his people out of the Egyptian bondage and culminated in the slaying of a lamb, which was eaten by the people who were delivered. The lamb of the Old Testament Passover was a symbolic representation of Christ who, when the Passover was instituted was looked for in the future.

The Doctrinal Purpose of Communion The communion also serves a doctrinal purpose or a very real and practical aid to our faith and beliefs. Of course, as everyone knows we are brought into closer communion with each other through the sacrament but we are also, or should be, brought into a feeling of kinship and love for all Christians, the whole body of Christ. Yes, when you partake of that cup and of that bread you are reminded that you are one with Paul, with Peter, with the prophets who foretold of this day and with the apostles who proclaimed it. Not just them only but with the entire people of God throughout all ages from before Abraham to Luther and Calvin, to Wesley and Whitefield to our own day.