The
Participants of the Lord's Supper
Some
Scriptural Principles Regarding the Welcoming of
Believers
By: Alfred P. Gibbs
Alfred P. Gibbs
Biographical
Sketch
Alfred P. Gibbs was
born in
Alfred P. Gibbs never
married. Like J. N. Darby, he lived out of a suit-case. Most of his writings
were devoted to teaching young believers. He served part time for many years
with, the then
Although an earnest
preacher of the gospel, he was best known for his work with children. Gibbs was
called home to glory through an automobile accident in 1967. Following the
accident, an entire issue of Letters Of Interest was
devoted to him. Reminiscences of him were written by several well known
brethren including his brother Edwin, Bill McCartney, Elliot Van Ryn, T.B. Gilbert, Lester Wilson, William MacDonald, and
Lloyd Walterick. A.P. Gibbs will be remembered as a
great preacher of the gospel, and a loving friend to all children he met in his
entire lifetime.
1.
The
Participants of the Lord's Supper
Some
Scriptural Principles Regarding the Welcoming of
Believers
By: Alfred P. Gibbs
Properly speaking, an assembly does not "receive" a fellow believer to
the Lord's supper, but rather welcomes him. Let us illustrate this distinction in terms. Let us
suppose that a person is a guest of the President at the White House. While he
is there, the President decides to have a banquet and invites quite a number of
people. When the guests respond to the invitation and arrive at the White
House, who receives them, the guest or the host? There is only one answer to
this question. You reply, and rightly, the President does the receiving. What, then, does the guest
do? The guest simply welcomes his
fellow guests who have responded to the invitation of the president. Now apply
this to the Lord's supper. Who invites the guests? The Lord. Who receives the guests? The
Lord. What do believers do? They welcome their fellow guests who have
responded to the invitation of their common Lord.
Now let us pursue the illustration a little further.
Would this guest of the President, without consulting his host, take it upon
himself to invite a number of his friends to the White House for supper? Of course not. This is the prerogative of the host alone.
Likewise, Christians do not have any authority to invite people to the Lord's supper. They have the privilege of showing their fellow
believers, from the Word, that the Lord has invited
all His own, who are sound in life and doctrine to His supper; but the
accepting of and the responding to that invitation is the responsibility of
each believer.
When a believer, sound in life and doctrine,
presents himself at an assembly, and desires to remember the Lord in the
breaking of bread, he should be welcomed by his fellow guests at the
"feast of love Divine." Much heartache would have been
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avoided if this simple fact had been kept in mind. By adopting a harsh, rigid
and exclusive attitude to their fellow believers, some assemblies have acted as
though they were the hosts at the Lord's supper,
and consequently many true believers have been refused participation and thus
denied their birthright privilege.
In this matter of welcoming believers to the Lord's supper, there are two extremes to be avoided: the extreme of
ultra exclusivism on one hand and the extreme of
gross carelessness on the other. In the former case, some assemblies would
impose, on the believer, other conditions than what the Word warrants, namely
that the person is saved, is doctrinally sound and morally clean. They would
insist that he agree to abide by certain of their own rules and regulations
which are not laid down in the word of God, ere he can be permitted to remember
the Lord with them. In the case of the careless assembly, little or no care is
exercised in welcoming one who desires to partake of the Lord's supper. The great necessity, therefore, is to firmly avoid
both extremes.
Our Lord laid down a principle to which all
assemblies should give good heed: "He that receiveth you,
receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me" (Matt.
Let
us be clear on this matter of sectarianism. Any company of believers who claim
to possess certain exclusive
spiritual blessings that are not common to all other believers; or who
designate themselves by a distinguishing name that is not common to all
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other
believers; or who claim to have a superior status, in the sight of God, that is
not true of other Christians; or who claim to have an exclusive monopoly of the
presence of Christ in their midst, as distinct from other companies of believers,
is on sectarian ground. Of all the
sects of Christendom, the sect that claims to be unsectarian,
but acts in a sectarian manner, is the worst sect of them all! It is possible
to be most careful in the matter of breaking bread, and most callous in the
matter of breaking hearts.
There is always the danger of going "beyond the
things that are written," (II Cor. 4:6 R. V.)
and imposing conditions upon the welcoming of believers that the New Testament
does not lay down. It is still possible for the traditions of men to supersede
the authority of the word of God. (Matt.15: 9). It is sad to see an assembly
more interested in ways and means of keeping Christians out than in thinking of
ways and means of bringing them in. Any company of believers, that knowingly
refuses to allow a believer, sound in doctrine and life, a place at the Lord's supper, constitutes itself, by that very act, a sect,
however strenuously those composing it may deny the fact. While ever
maintaining godly care in welcoming Christians, let us keep an open heart for all the Lord's people, and show them that love, courtesy and
consideration that is the evidence of real and vital Christianity. The words of
our Lord should ever be kept in mind: "By this shall all men know that ye
are My disciples, if ye have love one to another"
(John
In this connection, the weighty words of C. H. M.,
author of the much used "Notes on the Pentateuch," are worthy of our
most serious consideration: "If there be any term of communion proposed,
save the all important one of faith in the atonement of Christ and a walk
consistent with that faith, the table ceases to be the Lord's, and becomes the
table of a sect."
There
are two ways of determining who shall, or who shall not be welcomed to the
Lord's supper. One is to draw up a list of inflexible
rules and regulations, either written or oral, to which every applicant must
wholeheartedly agree ere he can enter their exclusive circle of fellowship.
This, of course, answers to the book of discipline that is used in many
denominations. This obviates the necessity for any real spiritual discernment,
and becomes a purely mechanical process by which a certain uniformity of
procedure is attained. 4.
The other method is for each applicant to be
considered on his own merits. This will involve the application of certain
scriptural principles laid down in the word of God, and applied by spiritual
brethren, who are sensible well taught in the Word, well balanced, gracious and
considerate. These will interview the person who desires to break bread, and
decide whether or not he should be welcomed. Happy is that assembly that has a
number of such sound, spiritual and sensible men!
Perhaps some may be wondering what
are the scriptural principles that should govern our judgment in these
decisions. Let us look at some of them.
In
the first place, a believer could be welcomed on his profession of faith in
Christ. Through the hearing of the gospel, this person has come to realize his
need as a lost sinner, and has believed the message of salvation through faith
in the One who bore his sins and died to secure his deliverance. Upon accepting
Christ and confessing Him as Lord, he has been baptized, and now desires to
observe the Lord's supper. Such a person, of course,
is warmly welcomed, as a known believer.
Again, a person may be vouched for by a brother or
sister in whom the assembly has confidence. This is illustrated in the case of
the apostle Paul. On his return from
Then again, the person who comes to the assembly may
carry a letter of commendation which his home assembly has given him. This
letter, signed by the responsible brethren, commends this person to the love
and care of any company of believers meeting on scriptural lines. On the
strength of this letter, the believer is welcomed. (II Cor.
3:1-4).
We must beware, however, of allowing this form of
procedure to become a fixed and inflexible rule governing the welcoming of
believers. It has happened too often that a carnal believer, who carries a
letter of commendation from his home
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assembly, has been welcomed to the breaking of bread; while a deeply spiritual
believer, who does not carry such a letter, is refused the privilege of
partaking of the Lord's supper. Thus one person's ecclesiastical connection is given preference to
another's spiritual character, and
this is definitely not of God. Spiritual character must always be preferred to
ecclesiastical connection.
Once more, a well known and respected preacher, or
teacher of the Word, will not need any letter of commendation. His work has
already commended him to the attention of the Lord's people. However, if such a
person were to go to another country, where he is not known, it certainly would
be advisable for him to take a letter of commendation with him. Paul came under
this classification and wrote: "Need we, as some
others, epistles of commendation to you or from you" (II Cor. 3:1).
There
are cases, however that do not come under any of these
categories. Here is a godly person, sound in doctrine and life, but who has
been identified with a denomination for many years. This person has been
brought to see, by his study of the word of God, the unscripturalness
of his position. He has been led to realize that denominationalism and clerisy
have no support in the New Testament. Accordingly, he presents himself at an
assembly of believers and desires to meet with them. What is to be done in this
case? He should be interviewed by a few courteous, well taught, and spiritually
discerning brethren. With judicious questioning, they can soon determine if he
is a real child of God and thus qualified to remember the Lord in the breaking
of bread.
However, there may be some things that this brother
has not yet seen, due to his long association with the denomination he has just
left. For instance, he may not be clear on the subject of believer's baptism by
immersion subsequent to conversion. By all means let this matter be placed
before him in a kindly and faithful manner; but it should not be made the condition on which he is allowed to take
the Lord's supper. To force his submission to a rite
that he cannot see, in order to
enable him to comply with an ordinance that he can see, is not only to go beyond the word of God, but is the
height of unreasonableness.
We
must ever keep in mind that we are living in the midst of something that the
New Testament does not directly contemplate,
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namely, a baptized mass of humanity. Practically every genuine Christian we
meet has passed through some form of baptism, so called. In a great number of
cases he was sprinkled with water as a baby. When, in later years, he was saved
by the grace of God, he was given to understand that this christening was the
equivalent of believer's baptism, and his denomination encouraged him in this
belief.
We should not expect this Christian to see, in an
hour, what it has taken us years to learn! Let us encourage him to act upon
what he does see. As he does so, God
will give him more light on what he cannot see now, for it is written:
"For with Thee is the fountain of life. In Thy light we shall see
light." (Ps. 36:9) In any case, as we have found out for ourselves, it is
much harder to unlearn than to learn? As this person comes under the ministry
of the Word, in the congenial atmosphere of a spiritual assembly, marked by a
love for all the saints, he will develop in his understanding of the truth, and
"grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord."
Apollos is a case in point. He is
described as being "an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures,"
but he was not clear on the question of baptism. Fortunately, there was a godly
couple,
Let us beware of spiritual
snobbery, which causes believers to look down upon their fellow believers who
do not have the amount of light on the Scriptures that they may have. Let us
not make light on the Scriptures the
test of fellowship, but life in
Christ. There is no aristocracy in the family of God! All the members of that
family have the same Father, the same Savior, the same
indwelling Comforter, the same Bible, the same salvation, the same hope, the
same blessings and the same eternal home. Of all Christians it is written:
"Ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3: 28). An old Christian used
to say: "Keep the door of the gospel open for all sinners and the door of
the assembly open for all saints.
An assembly must also beware of social snobbery, and the forming of cliques. James condemns this in
unsparing fashion.
7.
Mark well his words: "My brethren, have
not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of
persons. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly
apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect
to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto
him; 'Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, 'Stand thou there, or
sit here under my footstool'; are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are
become judges of evil thoughts?... If ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin
and are convinced of the laws as transgressors." (James 2:1-9). There can
be no class distinctions at the Lord's supper. All
believers occupy one common position as "priests unto God." The fact that one Christian has more money, or a better job, or
lives in a better house than another, does not elevate him to a higher plane in
God's sight. We are exhorted to "Mind not high things, but
condescend to (or go along with) men of low estate. Be not wise in your own
conceits." (Rom.12:16).
Sometimes it happens that Christians from some denomination
will come to the Lord's supper, not to break bread,
but simply to observe what takes place at such a meeting. They are not clear in
their own minds as to what the New Testament teaches in this regard, but are
willing to learn. What a privilege it is to meet such, and to help them on
their way! These should also be contacted in their homes and dealt with wisely.
Each assembly would be well advised to have some good literature on hand to
give to such. Many have been led to see these scriptural principles of
gathering as a result of a careful reading of such literature in the light of
the word of God.
We could not conclude this rather long section better than by referring the reader to John Bunyan's immortal allegory, "The Pilgrims' Progress." The pilgrim is described as coming to the Castle Beautiful, which, of course, pictures a scripturally gathered company of believers. At the door he was met by a woman named Discretion, who questioned him as to his profession of faith in Christ and his manner of life. Once she was satisfied as to the reality of his experience of the saving grace of God, she passed him on to her three sisters, whose names were Prudence, Piety and Charity, who engaged him in further conversation. These four sisters represent four virtues, or graces, that should characterize every company of believers. 8.
First,
there should be discretion in
welcoming a person who desires to meet with an assembly.
Second,
there should be prudence, or sound
common sense. Third, there should be piety,
or godliness.
Last,
but by no means least, there should be charity,
or love.
As
these four virtues are allowed to have full and harmonious expression in a
company of believers, the saints will be edified, and God will add others of
His people to that assembly because, in such an atmosphere, they will be led on
in ways pleasing to Himself.
We have spent considerable time on this matter of
welcoming our fellow believers. We have done so deliberately, because it is a
matter of controversy in some Quarters, where rigid views are looked upon as
being "scriptural," and true to what they call: the "old
paths." Let us seek to hold and maintain a proper balance in regard to
these things, and make the principles of Scripture our sole guide in this
matter. (See Author's pamphlets "Scriptural Principles of Gathering,"
and "An Introduction to a Study of Church Truth")
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