How often does your faith-family celebrate Communion? We take part in the Lord’s Table the first Sunday morning of every month. That means the Table is empty three and, sometimes, four Sundays each month. It’s decorated for worship, but devoid of bread and cups.

A week ago this past Saturday morning, I had the privilege of joining with our Elders and four guests to examine a young man, Jeff Kauffman, for the Gospel ministry. During the ordination council, Jeff talked about his desire for having communion more often than what they are currently doing in his church. What surprised me was what he said about what he had experienced during the years he worshiped with us.

He mentioned that, despite holding Communion only once a month, our church was hearing about Communion each Sunday. It was almost like Communion each Sunday because of my transition from the teaching time to the Cross. I had never thought about how my Christ-centered interpretation and application (faith-first) allowed us to celebrate Communion on non-Communion Sundays, despite the “empty” Table.

I guess that is one unexpected benefit of preaching Christ as the way to explain and apply all Scripture. Each non-Communion Sunday morning, our congregants see Christ crucified even though the Table is missing bread and cups. Do you ever wish your church would celebrate Communion more often? Think about how preaching Christ this Sunday can provide the next best thing. More than once I’ve said on one of those off Sundays, “If we were celebrating Communion this morning, we would…”

Preach well for the sake of God’s reputation in the Church and in the world.

Randal