The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1910, Page 75

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

75

Of the Lord’s Supper.

Or rue Saturary Use or THe Lorv’s Suprer.

After showing what the Lord’s Supper is, what
its benefits are, and whence it has its great power,
Luther in his Small Catechism answers the ques-
tion : —

Who, then, receives the Sacrament worthily?

“Fasting and bodily preparation,” he says, “is,
indeed, a fine outward training; but he is truly
worthy and well prepared who has faith in these
words, ‘Given and shed for you for the remission
of sins” But he that does not believe these words,
or doubts, is unworthy and unprepared;_ for the
words, ‘For you,’ require all hearts to believe.”

From what we have already heard, the com-
municants without exception receive Christ’s body
and blood in the Sacrament, but only the worthy
communicant receives any benefit from his com-
munion. Such being the case, it is of supreme im-
portance that we should particularly consider the
true worthiness of the communicant. ‘This is also
apparent from the apostle’s admonition, 1 Cor. 11,
28. 29: “Let a man examine himself, and so let
him eat of this bread and drink of this cup. For
he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and
drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord’s body.” Every communicant is here most
earnestly exhorted to examine himself before he ap-
proaches the Lord’s Table, lest he eat and drink
damnation to himself by an unworthy partaking of
the Holy Supper. We see that it is possible to par-
take of the Sacrament unworthily, and that such
unworthy eating and drinking is attended by most
dire consequences for the unworthy communicant;
for, says the apostle, “he eateth and drinketh damna-
tion to himself”? Not discerning the Lord’s body,
that is, not distinguishing this heavenly Supper
from-an ordinary meal, he makes himself “guilty
of the body and blood of the Lord,” 1 Cor. 11, 27.
Such an unworthy communicant is the equal of
those who crucified the Lord, and as long as he
does not repent, God’s wrath and displeasure will
be resting upon him unto his final damnation.

But when is the communicant truly worthy and
well prepared? Can one render himself worthy by
his own preparation, thoughts, and works? By no
means. “I'asting and bodily preparation is, indeed,
a fine outward training,” but it is after all, nothing
but an outward training of the body, and there-
fore cannot be the proper preparation of the soul.
Decency indeed demands that a communicant ap-

proach the Lord’s Table with due modesty and
reverence, but in the end it is no more than an
external thing of which any unbeliever is capable.
And if a person desires to abstain from meat and
drink before communing for a greater or less length
of time, regarding such fasting as a good means of
drawing his thoughts from external matters, he has
a perfect right to do so, as long as he does not rely
upon such fasting as being able to make him a
worthy communicant.

But if such external preparations, as fasting,
a modest apparel, and a reverent demeanar, do not
make a communicant worthy and well prepared,
wherein does true worthiness then consist? Luther
answers: “He is truly worthy and well prepared
who has faith in these words, ‘Given and shed for
you for the remission of sins.” True worthiness
and preparation consist only and solely in faith,
namely, in faith in these words, “Given and shed
for you for the remission of sins.” You must be-
lieve, truly believe, that Christ’s body and blood
are given you in the Sacrament, that this body and
blood was given and shed.for you, and that it was
given and shed for the remission of your sins. In
other words: The worthy communicant is a person
who sees and laments his own unworthiness, who
by means of God’s holy Law has come to a lively
knowledge of his sins, but who by faith, which the
Holy. Spirit has worked in him through the Gospel,
turhs to Christ as his only Savior. and Redeemer
from sin, death, and hell, and who, furthermore, by
God’s grace, has the good and earnest purpose to
amend his sinful life.

From this it is plain who is unworthy and un-
prepared, namely,. he who does not believe, or
doubts, the words, “Given and shed for you for the
remission of sins.” Not sin, but unbelief, makes
the communicant unworthy. Faith is the hand that
takes the forgiveness which is offered in the Sacra-
ment. He therefore that has no faith cannot take
the gift which the Sacrament offers. And if such
an unbeliever approaches the Lord’s Table, he makes
a mockery of Christ and His merits, and calls down
upon himself the anger and curse of an insulted
God. “For,” says our Catechism, “the words, ‘For
you,’ require all hearts to believe.” The unbeliey-
ing communicant, however, by his unbelief rejects
this blessed word of promise and transforms the
intended blessing into a curse.

O Christ, may we the food receive
With childlike faith in Thee,
And humbly still Thy word believe
~ When ’tis not ours to sce. ¥. J. i.