The words are plain in Luke 22:19: "Do this in remembrance of me." Jesus instructed the apostles to bless, break, and give the bread. And all Christians are obligated to receive these signs of Christ's body and blood. We are to do this in remembrance of His death, to the end of the world. Note also that Jesus gave this command as He was about to lay down His life for our sakes. These words are therefore His dying words to all of His followers. How can a Christian ignore such a plain command? It is our simple duty to obey His commands. All of them.

The Lord's Supper brings us forgiveness of our past sins and present strengthening and refreshing for our soul. As long as we are in this world we will never be free from temptations. The enemies of our soul are always watching to lead us into sin. Too often these enemies prevail over us. So, when we are convinced that we have sinned against God, what more certain way of getting pardon from Him than "showing forth the Lord's death" and asking God, for the sake of His Son's sufferings, to blot out our sins? We should make it our duty to receive Communion as often as possible because of the benefits of forgiveness and strengthening.

THEM. Just as our bodies are strengthened by ordinary food, so our souls are strengthened by these tokens of Christ's body and blood. Should we ignore taking this "soul food"?

This food gives us strength to perform our duty to God. It leads us on to spiritual completeness. How can a true Christian ignore this duty which provides so many benefits? So, if we have any regard whatsoever for the plain command of Christ, and if we want pardon for our sins, and we need strength to believe, to love and to obey, then we should never neglect any opportunity of receiving the Lord's Supper. We must never turn our backs on an opportunity for Communion. We must never neglect an opportunity for Communion. So, whoever passes by an opportunity to receive Communion either does not understand his or her duty, or cares little for the dying command of Jesus Christ or the forgiveness of sins, the strengthening of the soul, and the inner refreshing which come from the Lord's Supper.

Every person who has any desire whatsoever to please God, to obey Him, and feed his own soul, should take Communion every time he can, like the first Christians did who made Communion a constant part of every single Lord's Day service. In fact, for several centuries the early Christians received Communion almost every day—four times a week, always! Furthermore, among the early Christians, anyone who had joined with the believers and failed to take Communion was considered an unbeliever. This is what the ancient writer said: "If any believer joins in the prayers of the faithful, and goes away without receiving the Lord's Supper, let him be excommunicated as bringing confusion into the church of God." If these early Christians received Communion so often, why should you not receive it likewise!

In order to understand the Lord's Supper, it is useful to read the passages in the Gospel and in 1 Corinthians that speak of its institution. In Scripture we learn that God has designed this sacrament as a continual remembrance of Christ's death, by eating the bread and drinking the wine. These are outward signs of the inward grace. It is, of course, good for those who are going to receive Communion, whenever time permits, to prepare themselves by self-examination and prayer. But this time of self-examination is not absolutely necessary. When we don't have time for it, we should make sure that we have a "habitual preparation"—being constantly prepared for Communion—which we can never ignore on any occasion. And what is that preparation most of all? It is a full purpose of heart to keep all of the commandments of God, and a sincere desire to receive all of His promises. This is all the preparation that is necessary—in either a period of self-examination and prayer, or in the constant and habitual preparation in attitude. Simply a purpose to keep God's commandments and a desire to receive His promises.

Recognize that there are some common objections to receiving the Lord's Supper constantly and frequently. I prefer the word constantly to frequently. The term frequently tends to communicate the idea of "more often." How much more often? More than once a year? Once in seven years? Once before we die? The term frequently is indeterminate and unclear. What we really mean regarding the taking of the Lord's Supper is constantly—at every opportunity to receive it, not just "more often."

God has commanded us, "Do this in remembrance of me." This is the same God who is our Mediator and Governor. It is the God from whom we have received our life and all things. It is the God upon whose will it depends whether we shall be happy or miserable. It is this God who commands us to "Do this in remembrance of me." I ask then, why do you not do this, when you can, if you will? When you have the opportunity to take of the Lord's Supper, why do you not obey the command of God?

Perhaps you are saying, "God does not command me to do this as often as I can." That is, you argue, "as often as you can" is not clearly printed in the Scriptures. But where does that lead you? Are we not to obey every command of God as often as we can? To take Holy Communion is our duty. Whatever we can do, we ought to do. Face it. The person who has an opportunity to obey this command, and does not, will simply have no place in the kingdom of heaven. God has commanded us to do this.

The truth is we are obligated to keep every commandment of God as far as we can. What is the choice? If we are not obligated to obey God as often as we can, then it cannot be argued that we are obligated to obey Him at any time. For if we provide for the escape clause "I will do it at a later time" for obeying the command to take Communion, why would we not be able to say this about every other command of the Lord? So, the primary reason to take Communion constantly is that it is a clear command of God to do so. To disobey this command jeopardizes our walk with God.

The Lord's Supper is a channel of mercy from God to man. A channel of mercy (or, "means of grace") is a way God has provided to make us like himself, like Him in holine