In this supper, Jesus holds out himself to us. He testifies to his death, his promise, and our blessings and obligations as his people. But in this supper we also reach out and take hold of him. We take and eat and drink. By receiving the bread and wine, we claim Christ's redemptive death on our behalf, expressing our faith in him. In it, we testify and renew our thankfulness to God, our engagement to God, and our mutual love and fellowship with each other, as members of the same body. This is what this participation means, and ought to be what we intend and express.
To worthily partake of the Lord’s Supper do we need to be worthy of God’s blessing?
It does not mean that you yourself must be worthy of God’s blessing, as if you could merit it. In fact, it includes a recognition of your sins and your need for Christ. It is not the full who need food, but the hungry. To “worthily partake” means that you partake of the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner. It means you do not just go through the motions, but you express your faith by it and testify and renew your gratitude and engagement to God, and your mutual love and fellowship with each other, as members of the same body. A worthy manner is a knowledgeable manner, a believing manner, a repentant manner, and grateful manner.
What is it to partake in a knowledgable manner?
We find that we must discern the Lord’s body and partake in remembrance of him (1 Cor. 11:24-25, 29). To discern the body is to understand the symbolic significance of the Lord’s Supper. This is not a common meal (which is how the Corinthians were treating it). Consider not only the signs but also what they signify, both Christ’s body that was crucified for you and his body the church united in him. Consider the benefits that come to you from Christ’s death and your fellowship with him and with each other in him.
What is it to partake in a believing manner?
It means both to be a believer and to exercise your faith as you partake of the sacrament, applying Christ to yourself as you take the symbols of him. It is important not only to understand, but also to receive and rest upon Christ and his redemptive work for your salvation. It is by faith that we feed upon Christ and his flesh and blood unto eternal life (John 6:35). By knowledge we perceive the promise, and by faith we embrace the promise.
What is it to partake in a repentant manner?
Paul teaches us that we must judge ourselves as we come to the Lord’s Supper, lest the Lord need to judge us with his fatherly discipline (1 Cor. 11:28-32). Repentance is always joined together with saving faith. The Lord’s Supper is for those who recognize that they are sinners, who seek salvation in Christ, and who with grief and hatred of their sins turn from them unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. The mercy of God in Christ displayed in this Supper should further stir up your repentance, especially your resolve to live as those ransomed by his blood, as the Lord’s, to his glory and according to his word.
What is it to partake in a grateful manner?
This knowledge, faith, and repentance gives birth to joy, thanksgiving, and love to God and one another. It directs our attention to the Lord Jesus, the source of our blessing and joy. This is a supper, a spiritual feast, to be received with thankfulness. We give thanks in prayer together both before and after receiving the elements.
So, by observing the sacramental elements and actions, discerning the Lord’s body, and affectionately meditating on him and his death, you are to stir yourself up to a vigorous exercise of your graces, in judging yourself in repentance, hungering and thirsting after Christ, feeding on him by faith, rejoicing in his love, giving thanks for his grace, and renewing your covenant with God and love to all the saints (WLC 174).
What should you do in that you might partake in a worthy manner?
In order to partake in a worthy manner, you should examine yourself (1 Cor. 11:28). You are responsible to make sure you do not come in a unworthy manner. What should you look for? Look for your knowledge to discern the Lord’s body, your faith to feed upon him, and your repentance, love, and new obedience. Look, so that if you do not find them, you may humble yourself before God and remedy the lack. In other words, examine yourself so that you might partake, not carelessly in an unworthy manner, but in a knowledgeable, believing, repentant, and grateful manner.
What responsibility does the church have to fence the table?
The individual has a duty to examine himself, and the church has a duty to guard the holy things and judge those inside the church, admitting them or restricting them from the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 5, Matt. 7:6, 16:19, 18:15-18).
Because the Lord’s Supper must be taken in a worthy manner as described above, the elders of the church should not admit to the Supper those who are incapable of examining themselves and discerning the Lord’s body, such as little children. And because the Lord’s Supper involves an active “taking” of Christ by faith (Matt. 26:26), it should only be administered to those who actively profess to believe in Christ. The church cannot see or judge a person’s regeneration, but the elders can look for a profession of faith from someone of years and ability to examine themselves, and keep back any who undermine their profession by their manifest ignorance or ungodliness.
So the elders admit to the Lord's table those who are of years and ability to examine themselves, profess faith in Christ, have a sufficient understanding of the gospel and the Lord’s Supper, and are not scandalous in their behavior. The elders can likewise suspend from the sacrament those previously admitted if they are found to be ignorant or scandalous, until they receive instruction and manifest their reformation.
I would note that the reason Presbyterian churches do not admit their infants to the Lord’s Supper is not because they deem them to be unregenerate, but because infants are not able to examine themselves. The restriction is not a judgment upon the spiritual state of the infant, but reflects the nature of the sacrament and the ability needed for a right use of it. This is an ability that comes with age. In the meantime, young Christian children should be encouraged to learn from the word of God and to reflect upon their baptism, and to exercise a growing faith in Christ and repentance unto God. Children should be so nourished in the faith, that in time they are ready and eager to profess their faith before men and to partake of the Lord’s Supper for their further growth in the grace of Christ.
What responsibility does the Christian have to partake of the Lord’s Supper?
All Christians, once they are able to examine themselves, have a duty to observe this ordinance in a worthy manner, and so should seek admission to the table. By partaking, we keep Christ’s command to take, eat, drink; we diligently use this means of grace (as we ought); and we publicly profess the faith.
May one who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation, come to the Lord’s supper?
The Larger Catechism asks this question (Q. 172) and answers,
One who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation to the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, may have true interest in Christ, though he be not yet assured thereof; and in God’s account hath it, if he be duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it, and unfeignedly desires to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity: in which case (because promises are made, and this sacrament is appointed, for the relief even of weak and doubting Christians) he is to bewail his unbelief, and labor to have his doubts resolved; and, so doing, he may and ought to come to the Lord’s supper, that he may be further strengthened.
This sacrament is meant to increase the assurance, faith, and spiritual vitality of believers. It is not meant for harm. Nor are the warnings meant to keep people away, but to get you to come in a worthy manner. We want to see the table full. The Lord’s Supper reminds us that Jesus is our strength, apart from him we can do nothing, and it is through him that we have peace with God. Come to Jesus and find rest for your soul.
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