TRY IT! YOU’LL LIKE IT!

By Bob Bryant

“Try it! You’ll like it!” Some of you may remember that slogan from an Alka-Seltzer TV commercial you saw many years ago. I would like to say the same thing to you about the Lord’s Supper: “Try it! You’ll like it!” In previous articles, I showed you the biblical evidence for a weekly Lord’s Supper celebration that includes eating a meal together, a discussion of Scripture, an extended time of prayer, and a remembrance of Christ through the bread and cup. If you searched the Scriptures and feel that the suggestions I presented about the Lord’s Supper are true, then try it. I think you’ll like it. But don’t just try it because I have asked you to, try it because you are biblically convicted to do so. Even if you have no biblical conviction about these issues, I would still encourage you to try it because I think you’ll like it for practical reasons. If you asked the people who attend the Lord’s Supper in our church, “Do you have to practice the Lord’s Supper that way?” I think that most of them would respond, “Why would we not want to? This format is so much more meaningful, refreshing, and worshipful than the traditional practice, we wouldn’t want to go back.” In other words, they would say, “We tried it! And we like it!”

ONE CHURCH'S MODEL

When preparing for the Lord’s Supper at our church, we arrange tables and chairs in one large square on one end of our fellowship hall. Tables on the other end of the room contain the food that people bring.

After an opening prayer, people serve their plates and everyone is seated. We then pass the bread as we sing in remembrance of Christ. Following the song, we give thanks for the bread that represents the broken body of Christ and then eat it in remembrance of Him. Then, during the meal, one of our men leads a discussion of Scripture.

When the discussion ends, we sing a song. Afterwards the men pray aloud. After this time of prayer, we pass the cup and sing a number of songs in preparation for the cup. One of the men then gives thanks for the shed blood of Christ and we partake of the cup in remembrance of Him.

The last song we sing is about Christ’s return. This helps us to remember that we are to celebrate the Lord’s Supper “till He comes,” as it says in 1 Corinthians 11:26. We conclude by joining hands around the table and closing in prayer. This is a powerful expression of our love and unity before we leave the Lord’s table and step back into the world for another week.

MY VISION AND PRAYER

As I explained in previous articles, I believe that this format better enhances discipleship and evangelism than the traditional Lord’s Supper practice. For this reason, my vision and prayer is that this format for the Lord’s Supper will one day be practiced in thousands of free grace churches around the world.

Hopefully the day will come when each church will have so many people wanting to remember Christ at the Lord’s Supper that they will need to have the Lord’s Supper every night of the week just as they did in the Jerusalem church in Acts 2:46. We saw this vision begin to become a reality at our church when our Sunday night Lord’s Supper became so crowded we had to add a Monday night Lord’s Supper as well.

I encourage you to consider this format for the Lord’s Supper. I also encourage you to pray about presenting these concepts to your church leaders, asking them to consider this format for your church. I welcome your questions and comments and I invite you to visit our Lord’s Supper at Cypress Valley Bible Church. In any way I can, I will be happy to help you try it, because I believe you’ll like it!

__________________ Editor’s note: For more information contact the author in these ways: P.O. Box 458, Marshall TX 75671 cyvalbc@prysm.net 903-938-1711