The Obligation of the Lord’s Supper¹

Thomas Houston

1. The obligation to celebrate the Lord’s Supper lies upon all Christians whose circumstances allow them to do so. It can never be held optional to observe it or abstain from it at pleasure. Whenever it is regarded as optional and an irregular and desultory observance is substituted for that which is solemn and stated, the authority of Him who instituted the feast is practically set at nought, and the blessings which He has connected with it are undervalued. The will of Christ in relation to the sacrament of the Supper is as clearly made known as for any other commandment which He has given. He enjoins His people, “This do in remembrance of Me”, as plainly and pointedly as He commands, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”, or, “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”.

We may never plead exemption from a duty which the Redeemer enjoins. “He that offends in one point is guilty of all” – since, by neglect of one, he contemns the authority which prescribes the whole law and violates the principle of all right obedience. The Lord’s Supper was designed, among other purposes, to be a public badge of a Christian profession. By neglecting it, a person is destitute of the evidence of being a genuine disciple of Christ and virtually proclaims to others that he is unwilling to be known as one of His servants and that he has no desire after the privileges of His house.

1. A special obligation rests on Christians to observe this ordinance because of the time and circumstances in which it was appointed. When recording the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the Apostle Paul relates, with special emphasis, that it was ordained “on the same night in which He was betrayed”

¹Taken, with editing, from Houston’s volume, The Lord’s Supper. He died in 1882 at the age of 78, and was a prominent minister in Northern Ireland

(1 Cor 11:24). What depth of spiritual meaning, what amazing condescension and love, are expressed in these few words! It was on the eve of His great agony, when He was about to accomplish fully the grand mission of His love for which He came into the world that He instituted this ordinance as a perpetual memorial of His atoning death and as the assured pledge of His unchangeable love to His people. It was when He was going forth to the conflict with the evil powers of earth and hell, when He was about to surrender His precious life as a voluntary offering for the sins of His people.

The command to keep the feast and show forth His death was the Saviour’s loving last command, spoken before He entered the scene of bitter sufferings. The command is addressed to everyone who bears His name and professes to expect salvation through His blood, as the parting injunction of a dying friend and benefactor. How is it possible that any friends of Christ – to whom He is precious – can disregard this call of duty, unmindful of the obligations of love? If we have ever felt the claims of the Saviour’s love, or been affected aright by the momentous incidents of the night in which He was betrayed, we eagerly ought to desire to show our appreciation of His person and work by taking part in the commemoration.

1. A proper regard to Christ’s honour and to a Christian profession in the world will constrain believers to observe the Lord’s Supper. In no other Christian ordinance is there so full a display of the glory of the Redeemer as Immanuel, God with us; the Prophet, Priest and King in the covenant; the Husband and Head of His Church; the Source of all blessing and blessedness. Here is manifested His amazing condescension and His glorious perfections.

He bows the heavens and comes down. Zion’s King comes, meek and having salvation. To share in the rich gifts of His grace and love, He gathers around Him the poor and the needy, the despised of the earth and those who are guilty and rebellious, polluted wanderers and backsliders. In the symbolism of the ordinance, divine perfections are displayed in their lustre and harmony – combined in the great work of human redemption. In the fellowship which the Redeemer has with His people in this ordinance, these perfections are seen in the most attractive way. “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Ps 85:10). “Gather My saints together unto Me, those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is judge Himself” (Ps 50:5,6).

If we would behold the beauty of the Lord and be instrumental in promoting His glory, we will attend upon the ordinance which He has appointed as a principal means of revealing His grace and truth and as an eminent way of spreading His renowned fame. The honour of a Christian profession is also

thus brightly displayed. In the sacramental feast, the Church appears as an enclosed garden, full of pleasant plants, with its spices flowing forth through the quickening gales of the Spirit. Saints come and worship there in “the beauty of holiness”, and as they are led to the banqueting house, the “banner of love” is lifted up among them and waves around them.

1. Believers’ own best interests for time and eternity, the welfare of their fellow Christians and their duty to the world oblige them to observe the Lord’s Supper diligently. In keeping God’s commandments, there is a great present, as well as future, reward. Obedience to no other commandment brings with it greater blessing than outward participation in this sacrament. It tends to raise the mind and affections above the things of the world, to things above. It brings near the great truths of the costly scheme of human redemption and the awful realities of eternity. The exercises of meditation, self-examination and personal covenanting, which are connected with the observance of the ordinance are of great importance in determining the character, inducing a sense of personal responsibility, and leading to serious and steadfast views of the great end of life. The close and loving fellowship into which one is brought with the people of God, to share their sorrows and joys, and to experience their sympathies and prayers, is of unspeakable advantage both to young people entering a religious course and to Christian pilgrims at any future stage.

The believer’s public appearance with others at the Lord’s Table is of great importance as it openly proclaims that he has become separate from the world and is on the Lord’s side, as it furnishes one of the strongest motives to resist temptations to lukewarmness and apostasy and to persevere in holy devotedness. Believers owe it to fellow Christians to exhibit their warm love to them as children of the same family, living members of the mystical body, by uniting with them in the communion of the Saviour’s death. Thus believers openly attest that they regard it as an honour to be one with their fellow Christians, however low they are in the world and however despised by the ignorant and ungodly.

Like their adorable Master, believers are called to show that they desire to eat the feast with fellow disciples, that they may acquire renewed strength for future afflictions and conflicts, and that they may encourage them in trials and sufferings. In coming to the sacrament, they say to the Lord: “Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to Thee; but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight” (Ps 16:2,3). They declare at the same time before the world: “All we are brethren”.

An unregenerate man may know the will of God, but he knoweth not how to do that will.

Thomas Case