The Lord’s Supper
In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.
My Understanding: Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 20:22-23 asked the sons of Zebedee if they could drink the cup Jesus was going to drink. They said, “We can,” not really knowing what they were saying for sure, as none of them truly understood what was yet to take place, otherwise they would not have deserted their Lord. Jesus told them that they would indeed drink from his cup, but he was not speaking of a physical cup at communion. He was speaking about how they would, with their lives, share in his death and resurrection and in the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 26:38-39, told his disciples that his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, because he knew that he must go to the cross and die for our sins, taking upon himself the sins of the entire world, which was his greatest suffering of all, or perhaps second greatest next to having his Father look away from him because of all the sin that was now upon him. He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Again, he was not speaking of a physical cup but what the cup represents, which is his blood shed for us on the cross for our sins. The cup thus represents death to sin, both in Christ’s death to our sins and our death to sin when we invite him to be our Lord and Savior.
Mark’s gospel adds to Jesus’ question “or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.” Again, Jesus was not speaking of physical baptism in water, but he was speaking of what our baptism represents (or symbolizes) which is Christ’s death on the cross for our sins, his burial and his resurrection in conquering death, hell, Satan and sin so that we can go free – free from the ultimate penalty of sin in hell and free from the control of sin daily. So, when we partake in this baptism, not the physical baptism in water, but this spiritual baptism of the heart and of the Spirit of God, we are identifying with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection in our own death to our sins, burying them (leaving them behind) and being resurrected to new life in Christ Jesus, our Lord, to walk daily with him in humble obedience.
Paul, as recorded in I Corinthians 10:14-16, addressed the situation of idolatry and the Lord’s Table. He was speaking of the actual participation in the remembrance of Christ through communion, yet he was also speaking of what the communion symbols represent. He told the Corinthian church to flee idolatry, and then he reminded them that when they drink the cup in communion, for which they gave thanks, that the cup represents their participation in the blood of Christ via faith in Jesus and via repentance (turning from sin), i.e. dying to their sins and leaving their sins behind them. And, then he reminded them that the bread symbolized, not only Jesus body given for us, but our participation in his physical body through faith, through our own crucified lives, and through fellowship with him and with his church, his body.
And, then he said something that really spoke to my heart yesterday when I read this passage. He told them that they could not drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, too; they could not have a part in both the Lord’s Table and the table of demons. Certainly he was addressing a problem of combining the remembrance of the Lord’s Supper with idolatry, yet at the heart of this is something much deeper and that is that they were combining idolatry with their communion (close, intimate relationship) with Almighty God on a daily basis. They were trying to follow the Lord Jesus and worship him yet they were following after idols, too. So, this was a heart issue, not just one of proper etiquette at the communion table. They were trying to hold on to their old lives and have Christ, too, and the Lord was letting them know that we can’t do both. We are either for Christ or against him. We can’t sit at his feet and expect to have sweet fellowship with him if we are holding on to any sin, if we are not obeying him, and/or if we are following the idols of men, too.
So, it is in this context of the true meaning of the cup and the bread that we can understand more fully the significance of Paul’s words to the Corinthian church here in chapter 11. Certainly he was addressing a problem in the church when they met together for the Passover meal followed by communion (the Lord’s Supper), yet at the heart of this is something much, much deeper. The problem with the heart attitudes of these people did not begin when they walked into the meeting place. The problem existed in their hearts before they ever met together. And, the problem existed more than just in their physical celebration and remembrance of what Jesus Christ did for us when he died on the cross for our sins, but the situation was much worse than that, for it affected their daily communion with the Lord in fellowship and obedience to him. They had sin issues that impacted their ability to come to the Lord’s Table in daily communion with the Lord in the reading of his word (the bread) and in true worship of the Lord in giving their lives on his altar as living sacrifices (the cup), leaving their old lives of sin behind them and daily being renewed in their minds and hearts in following the Lord in complete obedience.
Self-examination
Paul then quoted Jesus’ words that he spoke to his disciples at his last supper with them prior to his death on the cross. Jesus had told them that the bread they were about to eat represented his body which was given for them and that they were to partake of it in remembrance of him. Likewise, he said that the cup represents (or symbolizes) the new covenant of salvation that God established with us through Jesus Christ shed blood for us on the cross for our sins. And, likewise, he told them to drink from the cup in remembrance of him and what he did for us in dying on the cross for our sins.
Though certainly Paul was speaking of the physical act of taking a physical piece of bread and eating it and taking a physical cup with the juice of the vine and drinking it and doing so in remembrance of Christ and what he did for us on the cross, this is not merely about a communion service. This is about our lives on a day-to-day basis, because the cup represents our death to sin and the burying of our sins, because of God’s grace and what Jesus did for us in conquering sin on that cross. As well, the bread represents partaking in his body, which was given for us, when we give our lives to Jesus Christ in complete surrender to him as living sacrifices on his altar, forsaking the pattern of the world and living lives pleasing to God.
So, when we read this passage of scripture, we must understand not just what communion represents in what Jesus Christ did for us, but we must recognize the reality of what it means to our lives when we give our lives to Jesus Christ as his servants and for him to be our Savior, Lord and master of our lives. The communion table that we partake in at a gathering of the church merely is a symbol of the daily communion we should have with our Lord Jesus Christ in fellowship, taking in his word into our hearts, in surrender to his will for our lives, in obedience, in confession and repentance of any known sin in our lives, in hearing what he says to our hearts and doing what he tells us, and in worship of him as living sacrifices on his altar. The Lord’s Supper represents all of this, so when we partake in the physical act of communion it is representative of our lives and our relationship with Jesus Christ, too, as to whether or not we are truly partaking in his body (the bread) and blood (the cup) in our day-to-day lives.
So, when Paul said that we must examine our own hearts before we partake in communion so that we don’t enter into this remembrance in an unworthy manner, this is speaking of so much more than just a communion service. This is speaking of our everyday lives. We must daily examine our hearts before we come to our Lord’s Table and sit at his feet to hear from him and to have our personal times of worship with him, to make certain that we are not partaking of those times with him each day in his word and in prayer in an unworthy manner, i.e. with unconfessed and unrepented sin in our hearts. It is self-defeating to sit at his feet in this unworthy manner and is a mockery of what he did for us and is a mockery of the very act of our getting together with him each day to hear from him. We cannot share in his table and the table of demons, too. We cannot share in the fellowship of a personal, intimate and vital relationship with Jesus Christ if we are not giving our hearts completely to him in complete and full surrender and obedience to him, to the best of our understanding.
So, I pray that when we come to our Lord in our times with him each day at his table in communion and fellowship with him that we would examine our hearts before him to make certain that we are not partaking of our daily communion with him in an unworthy manner, too, and are thus making a mockery of our relationship with him, and are thus heaping upon ourselves judgment of God, i.e. his divine discipline on our lives because of our sin. This is the prayer of my heart and I pray it will be your prayer, too:
When in The Stillness / An Original Work / September 26, 2011
When in the stillness
Of this moment,
Speak to me, Lord,
I humbly pray.
Be my desire,
Set me on fire,
Teach me to love always.
Help me to walk in
Fellowship with You,
Listening to You;
Sit at Your feet.
Whisper Your words to me,
Oh, how gently,
Guiding me in Your truth.
While we are waiting
For Your blessing,
Lord, in our hearts
Be King today.
Help us to live for
You ev’ry moment,
List’ning to what You say.
May we not stray from
Your word within us,
Help us obey You,
Lord, in all things,
Walking each moment,
Lord, in Your presence,
Our off’rings to You bring.
Help us to love You,
Lord, our master;
Be an example
Of Your love,
Helping the hurting,
Lift up the fallen,
Showing them Your great love.
Teach them to love You,
Follow You always,
Bearing their cross and
Turning from sin;
Walking in daily
Fellowship with You,
Making You Lord and King.
Song lyrics @ Public Domain
Audio, song lyrics and sheet music at:
https://sites.google.com/site/psalmshymnssongs2/home/songs/when-in-the-stillness
Song on video
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