1Cor 11:27 | KingComments | STEP | . I hope that you are impressed by the Lord’s Supper; that is to say by what it represents: Christ and His reconciling death. Then you can imagine that God is very displeased when Christians trivialize the Lord’s Supper. God tolerates ignorance, but He does not tolerate it when this holy institution is abused. In most cases when believers are of the opinion that the Lord’s Supper serves to strengthen faith, it is a matter of ignorance. The Lord’s Supper is not to strengthen faith, but to remember a Savior Who died. It is not that believers receive something, like a word of encouragement, when they partake of the Lord’s Supper, but they come to do something and to bring something. They proclaim the death of a Beloved and thank Him that He wanted to enter death. It is possible to remember His death and at the same time thank Him because He is the living One in their midst. It is another thing when, as at Corinth, the believers deal with the Lord’s Supper in a wrong way. Then they do not realize anymore what the bread and wine represent. It can easily happen that you eat the bread and drink the cup totally thoughtlessly. You do it unconsciously. Suddenly you realize what you have done. Then you confess to God that you were absent in your thoughts again. Fortunately, He knows that such a thing can happen. It is another thing when the Lord’s Supper becomes just routine, meaningless again and again. With the Corinthians the point was that they used bread and wine “in an unworthy manner”. So the wrong thing was the way they dealt with the bread and the wine. They ate the bread to satisfy their hunger and they drank the wine to quench their thirst. They forgot the real essence. This “unworthy manner” has got nothing to do with being worthy or unworthy of the person who partakes of the Lord’s Supper. Each true member of the church has been made worthy through the work of the Lord Jesus to partake of it. Therefore you should not cease from partaking of the Lord’s Supper because you feel unworthy to do that. The only reason for the believer not to be worthy of partaking is, when there is a sin in the believer’s life that is not confessed. In chapter 5 this was extensively paid attention to. The warning here is not to partake of the Lord’s Supper inconsiderately, for you would make yourself guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. . Each person who takes the Lord’s Supper seriously, will recoil from that and therefore examine himself. This self-examination, this “examine” yourself, is essential. Do you want to know how that works? When you ponder on meeting the Lord in the gathering, you also directly become aware of His holiness, that He knows everything about you. Do you have any fear by that thought? Can you frankly look Him in the eyes? Self-examination always has its effect. It may have the result that you’re reminded of things that are wrong; then you can put them away. The result can also be that you are sincerely not aware of anything wrong; in that case you may frankly partake of the Lord’s Supper. In Matthew 5 you find how the Lord Jesus says what I have just said with my own words ( ). Staying away from the Lord’s Supper or not partaking when bread and wine are passed on, are in no case a solution. In that way you let sin conquer over your love for the Lord Jesus. No, examine yourself, take away the hindrance or the wrong and eat in such a way the bread and drink in such a way the cup. . He who is not willing to examine and judge himself, easily eats and drinks judgment to himself, which God shall execute over him or her. God guards the honor of His Son. He cannot act as if He is not interested in how we deal with the remembrance of His Son. He also loves His own that much that He will not allow them to continue in that way. He loves them to enjoy the full value of this institution. Therefore He is obliged to chasten all who do not take into account this which they hold in their hands, as sanctified, and which is represented by the bread and the wine of the Lord’s Supper. ‘Not discerning the Lord’s body’ means that the believers do not relate an exceptional meaning to the bread of the Lord’s Supper. Their hearts are cold and aren’t touched by it anymore. Then God has to speak clearly to them. . Therefore many believers at Corinth were weak and sick, and quite a few of them have even already passed away. These things must have said a lot to the Corinthians. It is not the purpose of Paul here to say that each weakness or sickness of the body or each death is a cause of sin. God could have had other plans with it. At Corinth, however, all this was the cause of that. Nowadays it can also be the case that a local church is addressed by God explicitly, when suddenly several believers show weakness and sickness and that even believers are taken away by death. Of course it is a good thing that the believers of that church pray at prayer meetings for the weak, the sick and the relatives of the dead, but it should also be the idea that they ask the Lord why these things happen, what the cause of that is. It is certainly not meant that weakness, sickness and death only happen to the ones who are to blame. That may be the case, but at Corinth the whole church had to be addressed because the state of the whole was not good. It is also possible that God took away some faithful believers to bring the unfaithful to their senses. So we have no certain indications which we could relate to God’s ways of acting, except that, through such occurrences, God wants to point us to situations that are not good. . We can prevent that God has to judge us, by judging ourselves. You are able and even called to judge yourself. Judging yourself implies that you yourself can discern whether you do or do not walk in the path of the Lord. If you have done something wrong, you will judge what you’ve done wrong. You will not only judge the deed, but also yourself and the condition of your heart because you could only do that wrong deed because you were not close to the Lord. . If we do not judge ourselves, then the Lord will chasten us. As said already: He loves us so much that He will not allow us to continue to live in sin. If He doesn’t chasten us, we would then perish together with the world under God’s judgment when He will judge this world. . After these serious verses about the judgment and discipline of the Lord, Paul appeals to the Corinthians to consider one another. He who eats his usual meal at home, will not risk misusing the Lord’s Supper by satisfying his hunger with the bread of it, which would cause a judgment to the gathering. When the believers prepare themselves well at home for the gathering, then the gathering will be a blessing and not a judgment to all who are present. The preparation for the gathering is important. You do not just take a few minutes on Saturday evening, and surely not just an hour before the gathering begins. However it is also important to be occupied with the things of the Lord as a family as well as personally then. The preparation for the gathering is a matter you should be involved with during the whole week, your whole life. The death of the Lord you (maybe?) proclaim influences every aspect of your life, right? By saying all this Paul didn’t say all that was on his mind regarding this issue. There are things he wanted to save till he would be with them. Those things are not written in the Bible. It would not be a good thing to have records of everything formally. The Word of God as we have it now is enough for all times and all circumstances. We have received the Holy Spirit to be able to cope with our circumstances at any time by the means of what Paul did pass on to us. He who submits to God’s Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, shall experience the blessing thereof. Now read 1 Corinthians 11:27-34 again. Reflection: How do you judge yourself?

‏ 1 Corinthians 11:27

How to Participate in the Lord’s Supper

1Cor 11:27. I hope that you are impressed by the Lord’s Supper; that is to say by what it represents: Christ and His reconciling death. Then you can imagine that God is very displeased when Christians trivialize the Lord’s Supper. God tolerates ignorance, but He does not tolerate it when this holy institution is abused.

In most cases when believers are of the opinion that the Lord’s Supper serves to strengthen faith, it is a matter of ignorance. The Lord’s Supper is not to strengthen faith, but to remember a Savior Who died. It is not that believers receive something, like a word of encouragement, when they partake of the Lord’s Supper, but they come to do something and to bring something. They proclaim the death of a Beloved and thank Him that He wanted to enter death. It is possible to remember His death and at the same time thank Him because He is the living One in their midst.

It is another thing when, as at Corinth, the believers deal with the Lord’s Supper in a wrong way. Then they do not realize anymore what the bread and wine represent. It can easily happen that you eat the bread and drink the cup totally thoughtlessly. You do it unconsciously. Suddenly you realize what you have done. Then you confess to God that you were absent in your thoughts again. Fortunately, He knows that such a thing can happen.

It is another thing when the Lord’s Supper becomes just routine, meaningless again and again. With the Corinthians the point was that they used bread and wine “in an unworthy manner”. So the wrong thing was the way they dealt with the bread and the wine. They ate the bread to satisfy their hunger and they drank the wine to quench their thirst. They forgot the real essence.

This “unworthy manner” has got nothing to do with being worthy or unworthy of the person who partakes of the Lord’s Supper. Each true member of the church has been made worthy through the work of the Lord Jesus to partake of it. Therefore you should not cease from partaking of the Lord’s Supper because you feel unworthy to do that.

The only reason for the believer not to be worthy of partaking is, when there is a sin in the believer’s life that is not confessed. In chapter 5 this was extensively paid attention to. The warning here is not to partake of the Lord’s Supper inconsiderately, for you would make yourself guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

1Cor 11:28. Each person who takes the Lord’s Supper seriously, will recoil from that and therefore examine himself. This self-examination, this “examine” yourself, is essential. Do you want to know how that works? When you ponder on meeting the Lord in the gathering, you also directly become aware of His holiness, that He knows everything about you. Do you have any fear by that thought? Can you frankly look Him in the eyes?

Self-examination always has its effect. It may have the result that you’re reminded of things that are wrong; then you can put them away. The result can also be that you are sincerely not aware of anything wrong; in that case you may frankly partake of the Lord’s Supper. In Matthew 5 you find how the Lord Jesus says what I have just said with my own words (Mt 5:23-24).

Staying away from the Lord’s Supper or not partaking when bread and wine are passed on, are in no case a solution. In that way you let sin conquer over your love for the Lord Jesus. No, examine yourself, take away the hindrance or the wrong and eat in such a way the bread and drink in such a way the cup.

1Cor 11:29. He who is not willing to examine and judge himself, easily eats and drinks judgment to himself, which God shall execute over him or her. God guards the honor of His Son. He cannot act as if He is not interested in how we deal with the remembrance of His Son. He also loves His own that much that He will not allow them to continue in that way. He loves them to enjoy the full value of this institution. Therefore He is obliged to chasten all who do not take into account this which they hold in their hands, as sanctified, and which is represented by the bread and the wine of the Lord’s Supper.

‘Not discerning the Lord’s body’ means that the believers do not relate an exceptional meaning to the bread of the Lord’s Supper. Their hearts are cold and aren’t touched by it anymore. Then God has to speak clearly to them.

1Cor 11:30. Therefore many believers at Corinth were weak and sick, and quite a few of them have even already passed away. These things must have said a lot to the Corinthians. It is not the purpose of Paul here to say that each weakness or sickness of the body or each death is a cause of sin. God could have had other plans with it. At Corinth, however, all this was the cause of that.

Nowadays it can also be the case that a local church is addressed by God explicitly, when suddenly several believers show weakness and sickness and that even believers are taken away by death. Of course it is a good thing that the believers of that church pray at prayer meetings for the weak, the sick and the relatives of the dead, but it should also be the idea that they ask the Lord why these things happen, what the cause of that is.

It is certainly not meant that weakness, sickness and death only happen to the ones who are to blame. That may be the case, but at Corinth the whole church had to be addressed because the state of the whole was not good. It is also possible that God took away some faithful believers to bring the unfaithful to their senses. So we have no certain indications which we could relate to God’s ways of acting, except that, through such occurrences, God wants to point us to situations that are not good.

1Cor 11:31. We can prevent that God has to judge us, by judging ourselves. You are able and even called to judge yourself. Judging yourself implies that you yourself can discern whether you do or do not walk in the path of the Lord. If you have done something wrong, you will judge what you’ve done wrong. You will not only judge the deed, but also yourself and the condition of your heart because you could only do that wrong deed because you were not close to the Lord.

1Cor 11:32. If we do not judge ourselves, then the Lord will chasten us. As said already: He loves us so much that He will not allow us to continue to live in sin. If He doesn’t chasten us, we would then perish together with the world under God’s judgment when He will judge this world.

1Cor 11:33-34. After these serious verses about the judgment and discipline of the Lord, Paul appeals to the Corinthians to consider one another. He who eats his usual meal at home, will not risk misusing the Lord’s Supper by satisfying his hunger with the bread of it, which would cause a judgment to the gathering. When the believers prepare themselves well at home for the gathering, then the gathering will be a blessing and not a judgment to all who are present.

The preparation for the gathering is important. You do not just take a few minutes on Saturday evening, and surely not just an hour before the gathering begins. However it is also important to be occupied with the things of the Lord as a family as well as personally then. The preparation for the gathering is a matter you should be involved with during the whole week, your whole life. The death of the Lord you (maybe?) proclaim influences every aspect of your life, right?

By saying all this Paul didn’t say all that was on his mind regarding this issue. There are things he wanted to save till he would be with them. Those things are not written in the Bible. It would not be a good thing to have records of everything formally. The Word of God as we have it now is enough for all times and all circumstances. We have received the Holy Spirit to be able to cope with our circumstances at any time by the means of what Paul did pass on to us. He who submits to God’s Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, shall experience the blessing thereof.

Now read 1 Corinthians 11:27-34 again.

Reflection: How do you judge yourself?