WSC Q97: Coming to the Lord's Table Rightly

Q. 97 What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper?

A. It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord's Supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord's body, of their faith to feed upon Him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience; lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgement to themselves.

Today we are continuing to look at the sacraments—specifically at the Lord's Supper. Remember that with a sacrament the Lord takes ordinary physical objects and appoints actions to represent the application of Christ's saving work in us. With baptism, it is washing with water to represent spiritual cleansing from sin. With the Lord's Supper, it is eating bread and drinking wine to represent the ongoing spiritual nourishment we have from Christ crucified. God gives us things we can see to represent things we cannot see. At the Supper, we look to be spiritually nourished, but only if we come in the right way. Today we are going to look at what is required of us in coming.