11/30/2018
When Communion is offered in your church do you examine yourself to determine whether you are a believer before you participate? Do you look inward and find that you can take the bread, and the wine, while understanding it to be the body and blood of Christ... a reminder to you? There are those who believe that taking Communion improperly is an innocent attempt to go along with the crowd, while others view it to be sacrilege or sin, and there are even those who see it as a pretense designed to fool the Church. How do you approach Communion?
“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”
1 Corinthians 11:27-29, 32 ESV
If we are believers, and truly examine ourselves, we will find that we come to the Lord’s Table in varying degrees of preparedness. There are times when we are in the Spirit, and fully worshipping the Lord as we take the elements as Jesus instructed us to... but there are other times that even though we believe, our hearts and minds are elsewhere. So the bread is offered and we take it, and the cup is held out and we drink, but our minds are a million miles away, and the door to our hearts remains closed.
If we are unbelievers, why do we come to this table? Do we come out of curiosity to see if the wine actually becomes blood, and the bread flesh? Is it in an attempt to test the Lord? Maybe it is as a ruse to fool the believers who are taking the elements honestly... done to hide your lack of faith. Or, maybe it is done because you want so badly to be a part of those who believe, to join with what they have, to be one of these believing people.
“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 11:27 ESV
Who is it that Paul says will determine our worthiness to come to the Table? Listen to his words...”Let a person examine himself”, and in these words we know that we ourselves are to determine our preparedness. We know our own hearts, and we understand our readiness to dine, so we must ask ourselves... am I hungry for bread alone, or the body of Christ? Am I thirsty for a sip of wine, or long to taste the blood of Jesus? Am I remembering the divinity, life, and teaching of Jesus, or just going along with the church program?
God already knows our hearts, so once we have judged ourselves He begins to deal with us. We are convicted by our own hearts, minds, and souls, and in the midst of this conviction we are dealt with in one of the many ways that God chastens us, and draws us to Him. But, if we examine ourselves, find ourselves lacking, and still determined that our actions are of little consequence, then God will be our judge.
“That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.”
1 Corinthians 11:30-31 ESV
Communion is a remembrance, yet it is a real act which we perform that reminds us in a physical way of Jesus. We need to remember Him throughout our day and as we go about even the most mundane activities of life, but this is different than those inward and routine thoughts of Christ... it is a very deliberate act that we have been commanded to do in remembrance of Him. It can be public before the church, or private between ourselves and the Lord, but in whatever form we do this it is an outright pronouncement of our obedience and faith... it is bringing our internal thoughts, faith, and spirituality, into the worldly lives we live. This Table is our bridge to heaven... to the divine.
Does understanding the magnitude of this act convict you today? Do you look back on certain times when you took Communion and find yourself to have been lacking? If so, then now is the time for contrition, and to sincerely ask for forgiveness. However, if you are preparing to go to the Lord’s Table, perhaps for the very first time, you should have a better understanding of its importance, and the ramifications of doing so. Examine yourself before each time you participate in communion and ask yourself... am I spiritually ready to receive Jesus Christ into my body, or do I have some housekeeping to do in prayer... if you are unprepared then pray now, because Jesus wants you to remember Him in this way. As important as Communion is, it is not meant to ensnare you in sin, or separate you, but to thrill you in the presence of Jesus Christ Himself. Believe, and come to the Table.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ, and the vehicle of Communion by which, while consuming His flesh and blood, we are delivered into His presence. I thank you Holy Father for making the Spirit of Christ to be flesh and blood on earth to redeem us, and I thank you for this very real reminder each time we break bread and drink wine in remembrance of Him. Help me Father as I prepare myself to remember Him through this act, even as if it were for His coming. Quicken my faith, and let your Holy Spirit thrill me in the very thought of going to your Table and ingesting this Holy meal. Prepare me spiritually and physically to take your Son as my meat, and to humble myself in this offering of Himself. He is the main course of my faith, and the cup from which I drink my life. Never let me do these things with a wanting heart, or take them lightly. Bring me to your Table in full understanding, and let no man judge my heart save myself and You. Even as I seek out my own faith in fear and trembling, let me quake before your Table, and the offering it contains. Have mercy on me Father, and let your grace flow from the body of Christ that awaits me in Communion. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who sent His Son to live among us in flesh and blood. Holy are you who offered His Son as a living sacrifice to redeem us, and Holy are you who reminds us as we visit this Table today.
“So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment... ”
1 Corinthians 11:33-34 ESV
Rich Forbes