Key Words: not discerning the Lord’s body
The church at Corinth was making a mockery out of communion.
They were using communion to eat their meals and get drunk (verse 21). So Paul warns them in verse 29 that if they eat and drink unworthily, they literally put their lives at risk.
Communion should be taken seriously, for in communion we are remembering the Lord’s death until He comes (verse 26).
The following illustration on communion comes from Warren Wiersbe’s book, Be Wise.
No one ought to come to the table who is not a true believer. Nor should a true believer come to the table if his heart is not right with God and with his fellow Christians. This is why many churches have a time of spiritual preparation before they observe the Lord’s Supper, lest any of the participants bring chastening upon themselves. I recall one church member who approached me and shared with me a personal defeat that had not only hurt him spiritually, but had been “advertised” by others and was about to bring reproach on him and the church.
“What can I do to make this right?” he asked, convincing me that he had indeed judged the sin and confessed it. I reminded him that the next week we were going to observe the Lord’s Supper, and I suggested that he ask the Lord for direction. The evening of the Supper, I opened the service in a way I had not done before. “Is there anyone here who has anything to share with the church?” I asked, and my repentant friend stood to his feet and walked forward, meeting me at the table. In a quiet, concise manner, he admitted that he had sinned, and he asked the church’s forgiveness. We felt a wave of Spirit-given love sweep over the congregation and people began to weep openly. At that observance of the Supper, we truly discerned the Lord’s body.
The Communion is not supposed to be a time of “spiritual autopsy” and grief, even though confession of sin is important. It should be a time of thanksgiving and joyful anticipation of seeing the Lord! Jesus gave thanks, even though He was about to suffer and die. Let us give thanks also.
What to do:
✞ Fulfill I Corinthians 11:31, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”
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