The difficulties surrounding the communion service often arise from the individual’s inability to appreciate the utter simplicity of the physical arrangements.

 Out of the universal need of man to eat and drink come the two common expressions: to break bread and to sup. Sharing these two basic actions draw men closer together. Eating together has always been a hospitable act of friendship. It signifies peaceful intentions.
 

 JESUS TOOK BREAD
 The simple unleavened loaf of the Passover Feast was always without leaven. Leaven often symbolizes sin in the Scriptures (1 Cor. 5:6-8). His solemn declaration: “This is my body which is given for you. This eat in remembrance of me.”
 His sinless life was given as a sacrifice, a ransom, as the price paid to redeem us from all iniquity — those iniquities which hopelessly entangle and keep us from the our Heavenly Father. Our Lord did not want us to forget why he died lest it be in vain!
 

 JESUS TOOK THE CUP
 The simple fruit of the vine, the unfermented juice of the grape. (It would seem incongruous to argue for fermentation here while accepting the powerful simile of the unleavened bread.) As he instructed them to sup of this cup he said, “This is my blood of the New Testament which was shed for you. This do in remembrance of me.”
 

 THAT IS ALL THERE IS...THE BREAD AND THE CUP
 These two basic elements are common to all men. That which is physically required is minimal. The profound significance behind the simple act is complex and much more difficult to appreciate. Everyone must grow toward greater spiritual discernment if he is to properly participate in this spiritual feast.

 We eat the Lord’s supper by faith. Without faith, we cannot partake of the Lord’s table. The faith required is no mere blind desire to do good. The necessary faith comes from a knowledge of the word of God. There must be study, intent and obedience manifested in the individual soul. It must be a Bible faith.

 The simple act of eating and drinking can be done without faith. It can be done even by one who is not a Christian. But be sure to note: what is properly done by the Christian is related to what the Lord has done for him. Then, and only then, does the simple communion service become spiritually useful to the participant. The alien sinner and the wayward Christian is unable to receive the intended benefit.
 There is a unique, built-in, exclusiveness in the Lord’s supper. The closer one lives to the Christ, the more meaningful this act of worship becomes. Merely going through the motions each week robs one of the intended blessings.
 

 THE ASSEMBLY OF THE SAINTS
 The church (penitent, baptized believers) assembled together to eat the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11:17-22). They did so on the first day of the week. There is no record of any other arrangement. Neither alone, nor on any other day of the week was this religious act conducted. On the contrary, the apostle Paul waited seven days to assemble with the saints (Acts 20:7).
 It is when men began to wander from the simple Divine pattern that areas of difficulty and questions of doubt appear.
 

 WHY IS THE LORD’S SUPPER DIFFICULT FOR SOME?

 1. Some people just do not know how sacred and how vitally important the Lord’s supper is! They have never studied the subject themselves. They learned by watching others. When they obeyed the Gospel they began going through the motions along with everyone else. They never really partake at the Lord’s table because of the barrier of ignorance. Until they become serious students of the word, they never will.

 2. There are others who seem to understand the importance, feel a certain obligation, but just have too much love for other things to be faithful in observance. This is not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of love. Their direction in life is all wrong. There is little hope without significant change in the way they live.

 3. Slightly different from those above, is the one who knows but does not care. He feels no guilt, no obligation to his family, to his fellow-Christians and certainly no responsibility to his Lord. He is callous, insensitive. He is lost. He is quickly approaching the point of no return. He is farther along the same road as those above. There is still hope, but it is fading fast. Hope for him is almost gone!

 4. Some people have a hard time at everything because of the tendency to blame others for their own shortcomings. They do not do what they know to be right. They reason (tell themselves) that someone else is the cause. It is the preacher, the church, some member or several. It is blamed on the wife, the husband, the children, the job, receiving too much attention or perhaps not enough. Things are never just right. The fault always lies somewhere else...and it always will. It will continue until a change comes in their thinking. Repentance is no idle command. Holding this pattern makes everything futile! We really don’t want that, do we?

 —Carl G. Hecker