The NXR Podcast - July 07, 2022


QUESTIONS - Can We Have The Lord’s Supper At Our Wedding？

Topics
multi-campus model Lord's Supper at weddings
Hosted by
Joel Webbon Harrison Smith Antonio Griffith Dale Partridge Wewsley Todd Calvin Robinson
Mentioned
Lauren Schmidt Paul Jesus Christ
DAILY TRUTH - Protecting Our Children DAILY TRUTH - Biblical Masculinity Is Under Attack

Episode Stats


Length

14 minutes

Words per minute

182.45

Word count

2,694

Sentence count

164

Harmful content

Toxicity

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

16

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

What's the best argument against a bride and groom alone participating in the Lord's Supper at a wedding ceremony? Is it Biblical to have two Christians serve the lord's supper while other Christians are spectating but not invited to the table?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00 Hey guys, real quick, before we get started, I have a small request.
00:00:03 If you've been blessed by our content and you like this show,
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00:00:21 Lauren Schmidt says, what's the best argument against a bride and groom alone
00:00:26 participating in the Lord's Supper at a wedding ceremony? 0.87
00:00:30 Fantastic question.
00:00:32 Let me go ahead and pull up a text here.
00:00:33 So for this, we need one of the best texts.
00:00:36 It's going to be 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
00:00:38 Again, the question is from Lauren Schmidt.
00:00:40 Thanks for writing in, Lauren.
00:00:41 It says, what's the best argument against a bride and groom alone
00:00:45 participating in the Lord's Supper at a wedding ceremony?
00:00:48 So first, I'm going to assume with this question
00:00:50 that what Lauren is saying is not just it being improper,
00:00:55 to administer the Lord's Supper at a wedding.
00:00:59 But she's particularly, specifically talking about
00:01:01 the Lord's Supper being administered at a wedding
00:01:05 only to the bride and groom.
00:01:06 And that I would be strongly against.
00:01:09 I would be against both,
00:01:10 but I would be more strongly against 1.00
00:01:12 the Lord's Supper being given to the bride
00:01:15 and the groom only, only.
00:01:17 And this happens at times in weddings.
00:01:19 As a part of the wedding ceremony,
00:01:21 the bride and groom take the Lord's Supper
00:01:24 to acknowledge that the Lord is a part of this covenant
00:01:26 that they're making with one another.
00:01:28 I appreciate the intention behind it.
00:01:31 I think it's a good intention, 1.00
00:01:32 but I do think that it's unbiblical, misplaced.
00:01:35 And that would be particularly wrong 0.99
00:01:37 because if you have a Christian husband and wife 1.00
00:01:40 getting married, 0.99
00:01:41 I'm assuming that only a Christian husband and wife 1.00
00:01:43 would really have the motivation 0.92
00:01:44 to take the Lord's Supper in their wedding.
00:01:46 But that implies or assumes
00:01:48 that if it's a Christian husband and wife,
00:01:50 they probably have invited christian friends and family there may be unbelievers present but there
00:01:56 are are certainly some other believers that are present in the wedding ceremony so then what you
00:02:00 have is you have a two christians being served the lord's supper while other christians are
00:02:07 spectating but not they're being effectively barred from the lord's table that's what you
00:02:13 have happening so we have to be honest about it and call it what it is i know it's a beautiful
00:02:16 symbol and all these kinds of things. And I have no doubt that if you've done this, you're listening,
00:02:20 you did this at your wedding. I have no doubt that your intentions were good and you were simply
00:02:24 ignorant on the subject and that it wasn't some overt rebellion in your heart against the Lord.
00:02:29 So first and foremost, hear that. I'm speaking with grace here and compassion. I don't think 0.98
00:02:35 that Christians do this. It is a common practice, but I don't think that it is commonly done because
00:02:40 of outright rebellion, but rather I think it's a matter of ignorance. But that being said,
00:02:45 what you inevitably are setting up 1.00
00:02:48 is a situation where you have two Christians 0.99
00:02:51 being served the Lord's Supper
00:02:52 and a bunch of other Christians
00:02:55 who are present at the wedding
00:02:56 being effectively barred from the Lord's table.
00:02:59 And that is thoroughly unbiblical. 0.54
00:03:02 That is thoroughly unbiblical. 0.73
00:03:03 So let's look at this.
00:03:04 This is 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
00:03:07 1 Corinthians chapter 11
00:03:10 talks about head coverings
00:03:11 and talks about the Lord's Supper.
00:03:13 So let's skip and look at the Lord's Supper, starting in verse 17, 1 Corinthians 11, 17,
00:03:18 but in the following instructions, I do not commend you because when you come together,
00:03:21 it is not for the better, but for the worse. For in the first place, when you come together as a
00:03:27 church, I hear that there are divisions among you. So this could speak back to that bitterness,
00:03:32 right? That causes divisions and factions and defiles many. So it could be, there are divisions
00:03:38 among you, talking about relational divisions because of sin. But I think that the apostle
00:03:43 is actually, I think he's including that, but I think he's also talking about literal divisions,
00:03:50 physical divisions, that the whole church is not coming together at the same time. Because look at
00:03:57 what he continues to say. For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear there
00:04:01 are divisions among you, and I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you, in order
00:04:06 that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. I don't have time to talk about
00:04:10 what he means with that. Verse 20 now. When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that
00:04:15 you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.
00:04:24 What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate
00:04:30 those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in these things? No, I will
00:04:36 not. All right. So let me say this. Part of what was happening in the church at Corinth is that
00:04:42 the church was physically divided. And then they were doing this because they were
00:04:48 sinfully divided, relationally divided, but they were deliberately showing up physically
00:04:54 to the Lord's Day gathering at differing times.
00:04:58 Some were showing up early
00:04:59 before others had a chance to get there
00:05:02 and consuming all the Lord's Supper
00:05:04 so that nothing was left for those who showed up later.
00:05:09 And that's, so my point is, part of division,
00:05:13 the Lord's Supper is meant to be a unifying sacrament, okay?
00:05:16 So the signs and seals of the new covenant,
00:05:19 what we have is we have baptism,
00:05:20 which is the initiating oath sign,
00:05:22 and the Lord's Supper, which is the renewing O sign.
00:05:25 Baptism is the initiating O sign.
00:05:27 The Lord's Supper is the renewing O sign.
00:05:29 In baptism, we have the one joining the many.
00:05:33 One person making a credible profession of faith
00:05:37 and public confession of faith,
00:05:39 a public profession of faith,
00:05:40 and being baptized into the Lord Jesus Christ
00:05:43 and his body, the church.
00:05:45 So we have the one who joins the many.
00:05:47 In the Lord's Supper, we have the many who are made one.
00:05:51 Baptism, initiating O sign, the one joins the many, the Lord's Supper, renewing O sign,
00:05:56 covenant renewal ceremony, sacrament, where the many are made one.
00:06:01 We see this in 1 Corinthians 10, actually, where Paul talks about this unifying event
00:06:07 of the Lord's Supper that has a unifying result, that just as there is one loaf of bread,
00:06:13 we who are many are one.
00:06:16 So one of the purposes of the Lord's Supper is not a mere memorial, okay?
00:06:21 So this gets into positions of the Lord's Supper.
00:06:23 I am not a mere memorialist.
00:06:26 So I believe, as the scripture says, that as often as you do this, do it in remembrance
00:06:31 of me.
00:06:31 So when we take the Lord's Supper, we are looking back and remembering Christ, but that's
00:06:35 not all we're doing.
00:06:37 We're also being knit together as the body of Christ, just as we who are many, or just
00:06:42 as there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are made one. So in the partaking of the Lord's
00:06:49 Supper, it is a memorial, but not a mere memorial. It's more than that. So one, we're looking back
00:06:55 and remembering Christ and his sacrifice. Two, we're also looking forward and proclaiming the
00:07:00 Lord's death until he comes. So we look back and remember, we also look forward. There's a prophetic
00:07:06 function of the Lord's Supper where we proclaim to even kings and kingdoms to one another,
00:07:10 but also to the world we proclaim the death of christ until he comes so there's a prophetic
00:07:15 forward proclamation um the the memorial looking back in remembrance but there's also the unifying
00:07:24 of the body of christ just as there is one loaf of bread we who are many are made one
00:07:28 so so it is therefore um tragically ironic for the lord's supper to be taken in a spirit of division
00:07:39 or to be taken in a practical method of division.
00:07:44 For there to be a spirit of division,
00:07:47 sin in people's hearts,
00:07:48 relational division within the church
00:07:49 as we take the Lord's Supper,
00:07:51 which is meant to unite us,
00:07:52 just as there is one bread,
00:07:54 we who are many are made one.
00:07:56 That's one of the functions
00:07:57 of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper,
00:07:59 being joined together as the body of Christ,
00:08:01 the many become one.
00:08:03 It makes no sense for there to be relational division,
00:08:06 bitterness and sin in our hearts
00:08:08 as we partake of this sacrament that is meant to be unified, but it also makes no sense for
00:08:15 there to be physical division. And this is where lots of people, I'll lose you, you won't agree
00:08:20 with me, but by conviction, I believe that the church ecclesia literally means assembly, right?
00:08:26 It's the called out ones, but it also means assembly, gathering. The church is a gathering,
00:08:33 A physical gathering.
00:08:34 And so I believe that multiple campuses
00:08:37 are multiple churches.
00:08:40 So I'm against a multi-campus model.
00:08:42 I also believe, to a lesser degree, but still true,
00:08:45 that multiple services are multiple churches.
00:08:49 And some of you, I think, will agree with me
00:08:51 that even if it's not in two separate buildings
00:08:53 and two separate places, still two separate services,
00:08:57 especially when the church starts to accommodate
00:08:59 different styles of worship,
00:09:01 We have our traditional service at 9 a.m.
00:09:03 And then we have our contemporary service at 11 a.m.
00:09:06 And it accommodates to what?
00:09:08 To different age groups even. 1.00
00:09:10 So all the old people go at 9. 0.68
00:09:11 All the young people go at 11.
00:09:12 And people are so ingrained in that rhythm that there's no cross-pollination.
00:09:20 And you could be a part of a church of 500 people and only know half of the church.
00:09:24 You could go there for years and not know anyone in the first service because you go
00:09:28 to the second service or vice versa.
00:09:31 and you're serving the Lord's Supper to half of the church, and then you're serving the Lord's
00:09:37 Supper to the other half of the church, I would say that that is divided. That contradicts,
00:09:44 it's ironic, it contradicts one of the purposes of the Lord's Supper, which is to unite. We who
00:09:50 are many are made one. And so I would say that if you're contemplating two services, you either
00:09:54 need to cry out to the Lord, and you would provide a larger meeting space for you so the church can
00:10:01 continue to grow, or you could stop building the empire and start planting churches. Just plant a
00:10:08 church. Well, there's too many people. We can't account. Great. Plant a church. Or, well, we're
00:10:12 not ready to plant a church. Well, then great. Try to find a bigger building. Well, we can't find a
00:10:17 bigger building. Great. Then maybe this is a providential opportunity in the sovereignty of
00:10:21 God for you to partner with other biblically faithful churches in your area and encourage
00:10:27 people to join those churches. Wouldn't that be a blessing? To say, hey, we're not the only ones.
00:10:32 We're not the only ones in this city, in this place, who actually are faithful to scripture.
00:10:37 Here are three other churches that we partner with in many ways. And so if you're having trouble
00:10:41 finding a seat because the Lord has been blessing us with numerical growth, then these are the other
00:10:46 three churches that we would recommend for you to go and check out. It's an easy problem to solve.
00:10:53 The difficulty is that people don't want to solve it. It's not that it's complex.
00:10:57 It's just that it goes against what often pastors and church leaders want.
00:11:01 They want big churches.
00:11:03 They don't want anything that would stop the growth of the church.
00:11:06 But I would argue the Lord's Supper should be done together in a spiritual sense, a spiritual
00:11:13 unity, not with divisions and factions, relational disunity, bitterness, but also it should be
00:11:19 done practically in unity.
00:11:21 Not half of the church showing up at one time and the other half showing up later.
00:11:25 that is part. I'm not saying that's the only thing, Paul. I think Paul's talking about sin
00:11:30 in people's hearts, relational division. But I think you have to admit that showing up at two
00:11:35 different times so that some have the Lord's Supper and then there's nothing left for those
00:11:39 who arrive at another time later, that's at least in the text. It may not be the main point of the
00:11:46 text, but it's at least included in the text. There is spiritual division, relational division,
00:11:52 but there is also practical division, physical, literal division. And I think that in a wedding,
00:11:59 if the couple is taking it and other Christians present are being denied the Lord's Supper,
00:12:06 they're being rejected effectively from the Lord's table, then you are ironically going against,
00:12:11 you are contradicting one of the chief purposes of the Lord's Supper, which is to unite. Beyond
00:12:16 that, I would say better not to do the Lord's Supper in a wedding at all because the Lord's
00:12:20 supper does not belong to households, but it belongs to the church. So the three sovereign
00:12:25 spheres that God divinely instituted is the home, the church, and the state. And God has given
00:12:31 certain things, certain tools to each of these three spheres. To the home, God has given the rod
00:12:36 for training children. And he's given other things as well. To the state, God has given the sword
00:12:41 to curb outward manifestations of evil, to punish evildoers, to exact justice. But to the church,
00:12:49 God has given the sword of the spirit, or what we might call the keys of the kingdom.
00:12:55 That's Matthew 18, talking about church discipline, binding and loosing, and all that.
00:12:59 It's not separate from, but all that is intrinsically tied to the Lord's Supper.
00:13:04 When you bind and loose, you are removing people from the Lord's table, right?
00:13:08 If you loose someone, if you bind them, you are bringing them near to the Lord's Supper.
00:13:12 So God has given the keys of the kingdom with church membership and excommunication, church
00:13:17 discipline and then tied into that the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. That has not
00:13:22 been given to the state. It is improper for a governor to administer the Lord's Supper. And
00:13:27 likewise, even with a Christian family, it is improper for a father or a mother in the home 0.97
00:13:33 to administer the Lord's Supper. And a wedding, a wedding is, it is, even though it's a public 0.94
00:13:39 event, many people are present, it is a household event. It is the covenanting between two people,
00:13:46 a man and a woman, and the Lord, covenanting with the Lord also, to begin to initiate a new
00:13:51 household. A wedding is not a church event. The church should be involved. It should be involved,
00:13:58 but we do not believe, we're not Catholics. We do not believe that marriage is a sacrament.
00:14:04 We believe not in seven sacraments, but two, the Lord's Supper and baptism. I do believe that you
00:14:09 should have a minister officiate, a minister of the gospel, and ideally your local pastor
00:14:14 officiate your wedding.
00:14:17 So I believe that the church is certainly involved in this,
00:14:20 but the Lord's Supper is not given to households.
00:14:24 It's not given to marriages.
00:14:25 It's not given to weddings.
00:14:27 It's given to the church.
00:14:29 Thanks so much for listening.
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