Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The minimal acceptable age for a person to partake the Lord’s Supper
We believe the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of Christ’s suffering and death and a prophecy of His second coming (1Cor 11: 26). It is symbolic looking back to Christ’s sacrifice for us and looking ahead to the promise of His second coming. It is a vital and meaningful form of worship, and commanded of all believers “till He comes.” As to the question of minimal age acceptable for participation, as long as the individual has accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, he or she can partake of the sacrament.
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33 comments:
Dear Andrew, the answer is the same that I commented in Alwyn's blog about baptism. I think as long a s a child has understood the meaning of the Lord Supper, he/she should be encouraged to partake.
dear bro, my view is the same as your, when one becomes a believer. GB
Andrew please correct your setting and open it up for all to comments.
hey. brother. I do agree with your view on the teaching of Lord's supper. But i do have a question for clarification. You have mentioned that as long as one person has accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, he or she can partake of the sacrament.
So do we encourage the children to partake the Holy Communion in Children Church service?
Hi Andrew,
Well said, who do you think should take the responsibility to explain to the child about the Lord's Supper - the Pastor, Sunday School teacher, Parents or wait for the child to find out on his/her own?
Did you mean that a new believer who just accepted Jesus as Lord as savior can straight partake the Lord's Supper without much guidance and teaching about the significance of the Lord's Supper. How about Sunday School Children who're not much really knowing the significant of it also can partake the Lord's Supper? Thanks, please give your view.
In observing the Lord’s Supper, I think a great deal of it is to invoke in us a continual sense of gratitude and hope. Human tend to be forgetful and not grateful. To remember things, even important things in life and be grateful continually is not something automatic per se, which is why the Lord has instructed us to do this (the sacrament) in remembrance of Him and what He has done for us. It is of utmost importance to understand the foundation of our salvation, and continue to grow in our understanding of it should promote peace and strengthen our commitment to live for Him in the present, as an individual and as a body of believers collectively living by His promise. To instill this virtue in us is a deliberate act of worship then, as often as necessary, and more so at a young age.
Andrew,
You mentioned that anyone who accepted Christ can partake Holy Communion (H.C.)
Do you let a 5 years old kid to partake of H.C. right after he says be accepts Jesus as his saviour?
Do we need to go thru water baptism before H.C.?
How do you determined whether someone really accept Christ or not? This is important because Bible says, "whoever eats and drinks the cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning..." (1 cor 11:27)
It also brings about illness and death "That is why many of you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep" (1 Cor 11:30)
So, don't play play
Mike raised a good point in the control issue.
As much as we should not ritualise and have rigid control of how it is taken. However the sanctity of the communion has to be preserved. When do they in a child really understand what they are doing?
You make something which you say is so important sounds so trivial.If it were that important there must be balance of maintaining the sanctity and yet still making it something people can take.
you take things too simply...
I agreed with you on no age-limit for partaker of Lord's Supper. It is not the same as water baptism whereby the involved person needs to understand and comprehend the meaning to baptism. Whereas as in Acts 2 & 4, it did not state any children were neglected or abcstained from partaking the communion therefore, i presumed it is meaningful for family to do it together as a rememberance of the Lord's suffering and His 2nd coming.
I am not sure if I can agree with you that the Lord's supper is a prophecy of his comming though its a memorial as you have mentioned.
Raymond Marsden says......
I do agree with you that anyone who has accepted the Lord can actually partake the Lord's supper.
You really don't need much teaching on this subject like Jerome mentioned,its not like in Water Baptism where proper teaching is needed.Reading I Corinthians 11:23-32 before we partake as most churches do is sufficent to make one understand.
Raymond comments....
I may not agree with you that the Lord's Supper is a prophecy of his comming although we are told to do it till Jesus comes.You did mention that its a memorial and that is true.
Dear andrew,
yes i too agree with your view. just had a thought, when and how often should one observe the Lord's supper?
God bless you
Hi Eunice. Yes I think it is the responsibility of those who understood the importance and meaning of the Lord’s Supper and entrusted with the authority to do so to educate the people, such as you have mentioned (Pastor, Sunday school teacher, etc). In case of the family setting, by right it is the responsibility of the parents to teach their children concerning the ways of God.
To Jerome… unlike baptism, the Lord’s Supper is being observed on a regular basis. So, each time it is being observed, usually what the person who officiate it will do is that he will have both the opportunity and responsibility to explain the meaning and significance of the memorial act to everyone who were present each time it is being partook. In that sense one need not has to comprehend fully the meaning of the sacrament per se in order to partake it, but can and should seek to continually grow in the understanding of it as we go along. Continuation to grow in the knowledge of the saving grace that we all have come to partook of, and growing in our gratefulness and worship for what the Lord has done for us is a process. Thus young believers and children can and should be encouraged to partake.
Hi Andrew.
1 Cor 11:26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
I think the operative phrase here is 'proclaim the Lord's death.' Not so much a prophecy about His second coming.
To Mun Chung… I think the ideal is that both the children should be encouraged to partake in the Lord’s Supper and also be properly taught in regards to its importance and meaning. The two should go together.
To Mike… there is no scripture that says one has to be baptized before he or she can partake of the Holy Communion. In the context of 1 Cor. 11, Paul wrote to sought things out that has gone seriously awry in the setting of the Christian community there and a great deal of it is due to their ignorance. Sadly in case of partaking of the Holy Communion in an unworthy manner, it has resulted in some tragic consequences. This is a serious matter, but not as serious as people need to be taught to do things aright and in a proper manner. Lack of knowledge in a great part has caused serious damages. People and especially leadership need to be adequately instructed in the first place. This is where Paul came in straighten things up, and we have these whole episode recorded up in the Scripture for our instruction. As to know whether one has really accepted Christ or not, since every church congregation and setting is unique and different, it is the responsibility of the shepherds or leadership to know their sheep. Here is where leaders need to discharge their responsibility as stewards of God’s house with all jurisprudence and dependence on the Holy Spirit.
To I love communion… in the Church & Last Things’ class, Ps. Lim did mentioned that most of the necessary things in life that we ought to do is usually inconvenient. For example, parents should educate their children in the ways of the Lord. This may not be convenient, but necessary. It is wisdom that both children and adult are instructed in the ways of the Lord. Sometimes I think we tend to to operate in zeal, but without knowledge. Maintaining the sanctity of the sacrament is important, but more so the people be instructed to partake it in a proper manner and correct understanding, which may not be convenient but necessary, more so with children. If we have done the first thing first, more likely the sanctity will be maintained, and not the other way around. Zeal must be backed up with knowledge, or it fails. We must be secure enough in our leadership role as to guide and lead. After all we are stewards and not owners of God’s house. We ought to take things seriously enough as to gently instruct, but not too seriously as to impose control.
Thank you Freedie for your input and comment…
Hey Andrew!
How is taking Communion a prophecy of Christ's second coming?
To Raymond, Alwin, and Donny… I did think that the ordinance has prophetic significance. It is symbolic of both looking backward (proclaiming His death), and looking forward (till He comes). What Jesus has done for us at the cross to secure our salvation has already happened. It is history. But the promise of Him coming again is yet to happen. It is prophecy. I remember someone said, “God teaches us in two ways, through history and prophecy. By studying history, we know where we are at the present. By studying prophecy (which is history written in advance), we know where God wants to take us into.” Remembering both in partaking of the Communion should reinforce our commitment to live our life for God in the present. According to Rom 12: 1 – 3, it is when we had a revelation of God’s mercy in view, we will be fully persuaded to live our life as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God as an act of worship. Our lifestyle then would not be one that is being pressured to conform to the temporal values imposed by this present world system. There must be something better that we can look forward to which can inspire hope and joy in us to live an overcoming life of faith. In case of Abraham, he is looking for a dwelling place that is build by God, according to His promise. Thus the prophetic eschatological concept of the Kingdom is already here but not yet fully realized.
If anyone can partake Holy Communion as long as they accept Christ, what if they are too young to understand what it all means? Little children confess they want Christ without really understanding about sin, salvation and the need for Saviour thus partaking Holy Communion then seems to be a pointless ritual.
What if the child is told by parents or church leaders to wait till older and more mature to understand and get baptised, do we still encourage them to partake Holy Communion?
If yes, is Holy Communion less significant than baptism?
I agreed with what the person above stated. Many pastors refrain the new members to partakes if they didn't really grabs the full understanding of the "Lord's Supper" or not ready for it.
How can you defend this view by allowing new believers to partake the "Lord's Supper" when he/she is not properly guided. Thanks.
Hi Andrew,
Could you comment your opinion on whether when a Christian is appropriate to receive baptism since in my experience that I have seen many churches would expect that person to go through baptism the soonest possible if one accepted Christ? But quite a number of them still dropped off from church a short while later despite gone through a few baptism lessons. Do you think we should let the person have a better grasp of Christianity faith than rather do the baptism like a formality sake?
To Learning via question & Jerome… I believe one need not understand all of the meanings of sin and salvation before he or she can accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior. Therefore children can accept Christ as their Savior though they don’t fully comprehend the doctrine of sin and salvation yet. None of us did, and our understanding of it is still growing. It is faith in the person of Jesus Christ and confessing Him as Lord that we are saved, and not faith in doctrine. Faith in God is essentially fellowship with Him. In Matt. 19: 13 – 15; Mark 10: 13 – 16, and Luke 18: 15 – 17 we had the story of Jesus welcoming and calling the children to come to Him. In fact, He rebuked the disciples for hindering those who brought the children to come to Him. Why man makes barrier or outward restriction that hinders children from coming to have fellowship with Jesus? May be one of the reason is because children were deemed as being inconvenient, and they can cause a lot of inconveniences. Or perhaps they were looked down upon due to their age. But Jesus said not to hinder them from coming to Him. Children most of the time are the innocent lot, which is why they need to be taught. What we can learn is not to view them as being inconvenient. Jesus had a special heart for them. I believe children had the special role in our midst to remind and teach us to be lowly and teachable in heart. “…for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” These are the attitude that God accepts and approves for anyone who wants to enter His kingdom and fellowship with Him, and not being confident in one’s own righteousness or looked down on others.
To Freedie… Well, I think in every case it is unique and different. In general we should encourage people to get baptized after they got saved. Of course we want to make sure that they understood the purpose for doing so by going through lessons. What if they still dropped off after a short while? Well, I think if they can drop off after going through the lessons, perhaps much more so if they don’t go through them. Or could it be they are not properly taught (I don’t mean your church), I don’t know. Every case is different. But I think you mentioned an important point here in that we must not just baptize for formality sake. More importantly we must love the person and disciple him or her. Baptism can be done later too.
Thanks andrew for your answer, but i do hope you really read carefully and understand what i really want to know. I am sincere in my questions so dont answer in defence or attacks by the way you form your ideas and making me look "bad". So just answer it with a light heart ok :)
By the way, I didnt mention anything whatsoever about not fellowshiping and coming to Jesus, hindering children and think of them as inconvenient or look down on them, believe in self righteous or making barrier out of not being "lowly and teachable".
I do appreciate your answer and agree with you that children dont need to understand ALL about the doctrine of sin and salvation to accept Jesus. But if one doesnt understand the concept of them being a sinner thus need a saviour to saved them then....Jesus cant be Lord and Saviour. How can they have "faith" in Jesus then??? If one can have "faith" in Jesus without understanding why He is THE Lord and Saviour....then what "faith" is that? Besides I believe what I really want to know is :
"what if they are too young to understand what it all means?" (what Holy Commnunion signify, why we partake it and what it means to partake it)
"What if the child is told by parents or church leaders to wait till older and more mature to understand and get baptised, do we still encourage them to partake Holy Communion?" (if a child isnt baptised, can the child partake in the Holy Communion)
"If yes, is Holy Communion less significant than baptism?" (children baptised then only allow to partake in Holy Communion, allow to partake Holy Communion after baptised or its ok as long as they have "faith" in Jesus and confess He is Lord. If allowing baptism is "stricter" than partaking in Holy Communion, is it less significant?)
If you still stick to your answer that baptism and Holy Communion can be partake by any children as long as they have faith and confess Jesus as Lord disregard to their understanding of the sacraments since no one should stop them from "coming and fellowship to Jesus", then i believe i get your point.
But it will also mean a 3 or maybe up to 5 years old children can go for baptism and partake in Holy Communion though I dont think they even understand what is really happening around their daily life...
Then i can go as far as to say that baptism class or teaching on Holy Communion is needed as we only need "faith" in what we dont really need to understand.
I understand your point that faith in Jesus and not stopping children from knowing Jesus is correct but i believe we need more understanding and guidelines for conducting both baptism and Holy Communion.
I understand this post is more about Holy Communion so you can focus your answer to my question on it only and ignore about baptism as it may be a very different thing.
Hope you can think through deeply as your answer really will help or not help my quest for understanding.
Thank you.
Sorry for incorrect sentence of the above comment, it is missing a "NOT" thus the correct whole sentence should be "
"Then i can go as far as to say that baptism class or teaching on Holy Communion is NOT needed as we only need "faith" in what we dont really need to understand."
Thank you again.
Hie Andrew,
Thanks for your reply you did mention prophecy is history written in advance that's something to think about.
To Learning via question... Sorry friend. I tend to get sidetrack a bit sometimes. In learning process, on its way to the destination, it is good sometimes to get sidetracked a bit and do some sight seeing. It can enhance the whole journey. I appreciate your genuineness and focus. Let me try to be more fine-tuned. If some of the previous comments in some way did make you look bad, probably I need to adjust my tone a little bit. Sorry bro.. Thanks for clarifying your whole questions again plus the comments.
You are right in saying one needs to understand the concept of being a sinner and in need of a Savior in order to receive one. Therefore I would not say that a child that is obviously too young to understand these concepts can receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord. How old then is one old enough? Well, every case is different. But throughout history men came to faith in the Savior-God before He revealed fully how He would accomplish the salvation He offered. Abraham was justified by faith, the Israelites expressed their faith in Jehovah through the ceremony He prescribed, Jesus granted many sinners forgiveness before He died – in all these cases, and many others, the atoning death of Christ was undoubtedly understood in the mind of God as basis for forgiveness. But those whose sins were forgiven were trusting the Redeemer Himself, without knowing some method or theory of redemption. The death of Jesus Christ is necessary for the forgiveness of sins, but our understanding of it is not necessarily a condition of salvation.
But if the child has understood, or 'capable' to understand, or 'begun to grasp' the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, he or she should be encouraged to partake. The key thing here is to 'encourage' when it is the right time. It would not be right to impose on them either so to say if they had not understood it. If obviously they are too young or not capable yet then we don’t encourage them. We must not either impose or simply allow people to take communion but encourage and at the same time do our duty to make sure people are growing in the understanding of it. We plant the seed and water it and let the understanding of it grow naturally. How to know then who are the ones qualified? Well, this is left to the jurisdiction of the mature ones, the parents, and the leaders. I agree with you in saying that we need more understanding and 'instructive' guidelines for conducting the ordinances that they may served the purpose they were meant to the maximum and we receive the fuller understanding, meaning, and benefits of it. These ordinances help us focus our eyes on the Lord and committed to Him and stay on course the path of life as we journeyed together, remembering what He has done for us and His coming again. They are for corporate edification and encouragement of the body of believers.
I think the Holy Communion is a very serious thing. Can we allow a child to partake when usually they can be quite careless about it.
Great answer, helped me see things in a new light on this issue especially when you defined your stand using Abraham, Israelites and the rest to make your point. Fresh view indeed. The maturity and depth of your thoughts in applying your stand practically helped me think through certain things in the context of my church.
Thanks for the sharing of your view.
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