Communion
The Holy Eucharist is the supper of our Lord. The Lord’s Supper contains a two-fold sign that illustrated communion with our Lord and a sign of love that Christians ought to have amongst themselves one to another. The sacrament of baptism is only observed once in a believes life, but the celebration of the Holy Eucharist is to be commemorated throughout our lives. The Holy Eucharist is also called: the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, and the breaking of the bread.
The Holy Eucharist is a sacrament that the early church held in a firm regards as they “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers (Acts 2:42). It is a feast that focuses on five factors that articulate the sign and the symbol of the Holy Meal. It is a sign in the sense that it is the powerfully representation of the shed blood and broken body of Christ, that established the provisions for our forgiveness of sins. It is a seal in the sense that it is God’s solemn confirmatory oath and promise that he will do exactly what he said he would, forgiving our sins through the shed blood of Christ. The five factors that articulate the message of the meal are that it is a: celebration, commemoration, covenant, communion and consummation.
a) The Holy Eucharist is a celebration not a funeral. It is a time when we worship the Triune God and thank Him for all His gifts of creation, preservation, and redemption. We are celebrating the victory of our Lord and Saviour over death. We celebrate our Lord and rise Saviour through the symbolism of the bread and wine.
b) The Holy Eucharist is also a commemoration. It is commemoration in the sense that we are honouring the memory of the sacrifice that Christ made for us. This feast is not just a memorial in the sense that we are remembering a distant event like a national holiday, but it does not stop there, for it is a time of remembering. Jesus said “Do this is remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). This feast of commemoration is not something that should be done just once or twice a year, but often is remembrance of the debt that we owe our Lord, through the great act of redemption.
c) The Holy Eucharist is a covenant. It symbolizes that we are believers that are partaking of the bread and the wine and that we have accepted the conditions of the new covenant.
d) The Lord Supper is also a communion in which we enter into fellowship with God.
e) The feast of the Lord’s Supper is also a consummation. We are to partake of the feast, until the coming of our Lord (1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come).
As evangelicals we emphasis that in the Lord’s Supper, that Christ is present there at the table in both a heavenly and spiritual manner. The Holy Communion is something we should partake of as often as we can, for through its celebration we renew ourselves for the spiritual journey in which we have chosen.
Baptism
Baptism is one of the two dominical sacraments institute by Christ on His earthly ministry. It is seemingly like the Eucharist that Baptism has been largely ignored and its importance lessened by the modern evangelical Christian. The sacrament of baptism is an essential sign of regeneration.
- Jesus instituted baptism in Matthew 28:19-20 “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…” In the NT church there was no such thing as an unbaptized Christian, for immediately after salvation they were immediately baptized (Acts 8:12-16; Acts 10:47-48; Acts 16:4-15; Acts 18:8; Acts 19:3-6).
The meaning of Christian baptism is rooted in a covenant with God. The rite of baptism acts as a sign or a symbol that we are part of the covenant of grace and it is our solemn pledge of God’s faithfulness. As a sign, baptism represents the spiritual purification of our hearts subsequent to salvation. As a symbol baptism represents the visible assurance of God’s faithfulness to do what He has promised to do.
Baptism also identifies us with Christ. It is the holy mark of Christ, usually performed in front of number of believers as a public testimony and emblem of the choice to be identified with Christ Jesus. As Romans 6:3-5 refers to when we are baptized in Christ: 1) We die to sin; 2) We are buried with Christ; 3) We are raised with Christ; 4) We are given hope of a future with Him for eternity. The waters of baptism are essential to the identification of our spiritual resurrection to newness of life in Jesus Christ.
Baptism also is a form of initiation, whereby we become part of the family of God. In the Pauline Epistles (1 Corinthians 12:13) it is clear that the baptism is a form by which believers were accepted into the church.
The mode or method that we use in baptism is not the essential element of discussion in the Bible. The chief statement is that as believer’s we must be baptized as to symbolize we are part of the covenant, that we are identified with Christ and that we are initiated into his family.
Baptism, like all of the sacraments is a solemn occasion and should not be entered into lightly. It is therefore essential that those being baptized have been thoroughly examined to make sure of their conversion to Christ. The method, whether it is immersion, pouring or sprinkling is not the issue, it is that as a Christian you have been baptized into the family of God.
