The fifth and last blessing of the Lord’s Supper, as our confession of faith notes them, is this: The Supper is to be “a bond and pledge of [our] communion with Him, and with each other, as members of His mystical body.”
This is why, in the observance of the Supper, we encourage You not to curl up in a spiritual cocoon, in order to mediate upon the Lord alone. You are supposed to commune with Him, but not in isolation.
This Supper is a bond and pledge, and it shows, declares, reinforces, and deepens our union and communion with Him. But in God’s design, it cannot do this apart from doing the same between us and God’s people. God’s Spirit converts us by ones, but that conversion is conversion into a body, which is why there is no salvation outside the Church. This does not mean there is no salvation outside Fourth Memorial, or Antioch Baptist, or Faith Presbyterian. It is the simple recognition that salvation in the Bible is salvation of a people.
And this meal is the shared bond and pledge of that people. You, this morning, as you partake of this bond and pledge are being knit together with every person in the world who is approaching this Table in accordance with God’s Word. This communion of saints is a universal reality, but it is particularly evident in the local congregation.
Just as we don’t want to say that we love God, whom we have not seen, unless we are loving our brothers, whom we have seen, so also we don’t want to say that we love all the saints . . . whom we have not seen . . . and not be able to handle the saints who are in the same town, the same parish, the same row as you.
So remember this. There is no union with God that is being established in this partaking that is not also being established, to the same wonderful extent, with every other believer here. This is your bond and pledge, and it is the tie that binds.