The Lord’s Supper: Open, Close, or Closed

On Sunday, April 5th, South Charlotte Baptist Church will be celebrating Resurrection Sunday in our 11 AM service. We will also take it as an opportunity (at 10 AM, before the main service) to celebrate the Lord's Supper.

A number of months ago, we made the decision to begin practicing the Lord's Supper in a closed manner meaning that only those who are members in good standing of South Charlotte Baptist Church may take part in the Lord's Supper.

Some may have questions as to "why" we made that decision. Below, you will find the text of a message that I preached highlighting the reasons why we made the switch to practing the Lord's Supper in a closed manner.

There are typically three ways in which we speak of the Lord’s Supper being practiced (or by whom it should be practiced): Open, Close, or Closed.

Open:

When a church invites professing believers in Christ to the Lord’s Supper regardless of when and how they were baptized or regardless of the church they identify with or regardless of whether they identify with a local church at all, that church is practicing open communion.

I believe that it should be fairly obvious to all of us that there are problems in practicing open communion and therefore, with the exception of the following illustration, not spend any further time discussing open communion.

Illustration: Someone could be visiting SCBC from a Presbyterian church when we have communion. They, as a Presbyterian, may be saved by grace but they (the Presbyterian denomination) also believe in infant baptism and believe that both of the ordinances confer a measure of grace to those who participate in the ordinances. That is a huge doctrinal issue and one that South Charlotte Baptist Church does not agree with.

Closed:

Closed communion limits participation at the Lord’s Table to those who are members in good standing of their own local church. This practice is supported by the obligations of accountability and responsibility of the members to their pastors and to the whole church. The gathered church members are picturing their local church unity and their submission to the church and Christ’s under-shepherds. Those who belong to another local church (or don’t belong to a local church at all) have no accountability to the leadership of a church they may be visiting. Similarly, they do not have the same degree of responsibility to the members of another local church.

This is one of the problems - serious problems - that Paul pointed out in the Corinthian church. They had a problem with unity.

For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. (1 Corinthians 11:18-22)

Close:

This is the practice that, up until recently, we have always participated in and have not given it much thought. Close communion means the church invites believers from other churches who are saved, scripturally immersed, and living in fellowship with God to their observance of the Lord’s Supper.

However, if someone is visiting SCBC from another church when we have the Lord’s Supper.

• How do I know what church they are a member of?

• How do I know that they are even a member of a local church? Maybe they do not believe in being a member of a local church instead believing that it is sufficient to be a member of the “universal” church?

• How do I know that they are saved?

• How do I know that they have been scripturally baptized?

• How do I know that they are living in fellowship with God?

Some may respond, “Well, that’s none of your business. You should just take their word for it?”

However, if the ordinances are as important and serious of a matter as I believe them to be, then I believe that the answers to those questions are somewhat my business. (And those are questions that generally are answered when the individual goes through the process of church membership.)

In this past year, while I (Pastor Campbell) was visiting some Bible colleges, I visited a good, independent Baptist church on a Sunday night. It happened to be that they were going to celebrate the Lord’s Supper at the close of the service. This particular church practices close communion and therefore, I was - in a general way - invited to participate.

However, I did not participate. Why? This church was not my church. I did not know them and they did not know me. Because of the seriousness of the Lord’s Supper, I did not want them to have to “assume” that I was partaking in a right manner.

Another example: My parents, while they were in the Air Force, had friends who were saved but who maintained their membership in the Catholic church because they believed that, like Martin Luther, they could reach others and effect more change from within the Catholic church than if they separated from the Catholic church.

In close communion, this couple would have been invited to participate and yet I do not believe that it would have been right for them to do so because of their continued fellowship and identification with the Catholic church.

Now, I will be very upfront with you that, in the Bible, there is no specific command whether to practice the Lord’s Supper in either a Close or Closed fashion. But I do believe that we can conclude that the local church should not practice the Lord’s Supper in an open fashion.

However, the conclusion that I have come to is that South Charlotte Baptist Church should practice the Lord’s Supper in a closed manner by allowing only those who are members of SCBC in good standing to participate.

Allow me to give you the two reason that I have come to that conclusion.

Reason #1: Because of the Importance & Meaning of the Lord’s Supper

Dr. Marty Marriott, whom I’ll introduce you to at the end of this message, wrote:

To protect the Gospel, we need to protect the ordinances.

What are the ordinances given to the local church? Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

What is an ordinance?

Simply put:

Ordinances are pictures or object lessons that teach doctrine. (Alter, James; Robertson II, Dolton. Why Baptist?: The Significance Of Baptist Principles In An Ecumenical Age . Ancient Baptist Press. Kindle Edition.)

W. A. Criswell wrote:

The ordinances are a dramatization to the eye of the great truth of the Gospel. They do not procure our salvation, they proclaim it. They do not possess magic; they witness to a majestic truth. They do not expiate [atone for] our sins; they exhibit the atoning love and grace of our Lord. They proclaim the Gospel message.

Another writes:

The New Testament teaches that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are both a memorial and a prophecy. Each looks back to the finished work of Christ on the cross, and each possesses a future aspect as well. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated until Christ comes, while baptism anticipates the future resurrection of all believers.

While this post is specifically regarding the Lord’s Supper, I believe we need to understand that the ordinance of baptism pictures the work of Christ and the salvation of the believing sinner as he identifies with Jesus Christ and His church.

Baptism is also a picture of the work of the Holy Spirit baptizing believers into the body of Christ, uniting them together for the work of Christ in the local church.

And so, baptism pictures the believer’s entrance into new life and into the church.

The believer not only has a new life, but a new purpose, a new direction, and a new destination as well as a new family and fellowship.

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4)

Regarding the Lord’s Supper, Jesus Christ, the night before His death, clearly identified the bread and cup as picturing his body and His blood.

…Jesus took bread…and said…this is my body. (Mark 14:22)

And he took the cup...and he said unto them, This is my blood… (Mark 14:23-24)

But…

The ordinances are also means of identification.

When an individual is baptized, they are identifying with Christ, with a body of doctrine, and with a local church.

When an individual takes part in the Lord’s Supper, they are identifying with the sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood meaning that they have taken part in Christ’s death; they have been saved.

Another way to look at:

• Baptism is a means of identification. It is the door to entrance into the church.

• The Lord’s Supper is a means of fellowship for the church.

The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to picture the fellowship of the believer with the Lord and the fellowship of believers in the church.

What the ordinances are not!

They are NOT means of appropriating God’s grace (as Catholics and Protestants would teach). In other words, they have no part of salvation. The ordinances DO NOT convey salvation to those who partake in them.

Also, the bread and the juice do not become the actual body and blood of Christ when you take them (as the Catholics teach).

Now, notice the importance that Paul places upon the Lord’s Supper:

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. (1 Corinthians 11:28-31)

Paul recognizes the seriousness and the importance of the Lord’s Supper in his use of the words:

1. unworthily

2. damnation

3. weak and sickly

4. sleep (death)

I could paraphrase verse 31 in this way: The Lord’s Supper is serious business and it is important enough for us to give serious consideration to who we allow to participate in the Lord’s Supper.

Reason #2: Because of the Importance of Protecting this Local Church

According to the website Cause IQ, there are 3,109 religious organizations and churches in the greater Charlotte metro area, including the cities of Charlotte, Concord, Gastonia, and Rock Hill within the states of South Carolina and North Carolina.

In 2019, the Charlotte Observer published an article entitled: 10 things you need to know to navigate Charlotte’s faith scene

• We are big into Elevation Church.

• We also have the biggest Catholic parish in the United States.

• We were first settled by Scots-Irish Presbyterians.

• We’re home to some major black churches.

• We have a national model for Jewish Communities.

• We have a road called Providence. As in, another name for God. And it’s on this long road that you’ll find some of the city’s most prominent churches. Like its biggest Methodist church (Myers Park United Methodist). And its biggest Episcopal church (Christ Episcopal) And its biggest Lutheran church (Christ Providence).

• We are getting more religiously diverse. (Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu)

• We have two baptist churches that reflect the political divide.

• Don’t forget our Pentecostals, Unitarians, Mormons, Baha’is and Orthodox Christians.

• And we are where Billy Graham was born and is buried.

At any time, a Muslim, a Mormon, a Buddhist, a Hindu, or someone from any other number of “religions” could walk through the doors of South Charlotte Baptist Church.

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20:28-30)

Church membership brings with it a level of accountability. Applying church membership and the accountability which church membership brings helps us to ensure that the Lord’s Supper is practiced in a proper way highlighting the importance of the Lord’s Supper.

If you combine the religious diversity of Charlotte, along with the seriousness of the Lord’s Supper, and the need to protect our local church, I trust that you can begin to understand why it is important for us to observe the Lord’s Supper in a closed manner.

Last summer, I was given the book, The Ordinances Teach Us To Be Baptists, which was written by Dr. Marty Marriott, the chancellor of Maranatha Baptist University.

When I was on the campus of Maranatha during a recruiting trip, I had the opportunity to have lunch with Dr. Marriott. I had a wonderful time discussing his book with him.

In his book, Dr. Marriott argues that close communion is the best mode for practicing the Lord’s Supper.

However, after explaining the reasons for my decision to embrace closed communion, he completely understood and was supportive of the my decision, as the pastor of this local church, to make such a decision in order to protect the importance of the Lord’s Supper and our local church.

In making this change, it is in no way my desire to exclude any or to unnecessarily make people feel uncomfortable or left out in any way.

As pastor, it is simply my desire to help protect the importance of the Lord’s Supper and protect the integrity and unity of this local church.