We started this series on the communion a couple of days back. Today we'll take it even further.
My aim is to help enrich your understanding of what The Lord's Table represents.
I encourage you to read up the previous lessons if you haven't, in order to have a good understanding of how we got to this point.
So, our reference text is still from 1 Corinthians 11.
1 Corinthians 11:29-30 (GNB)
28 So then, you should all examine yourselves first, and then eat the bread and drink from the cup.
29 For if people do not recognize the meaning of the Lord's body when they eat the bread and drink from the cup, they bring judgement on themselves as they eat and drink.
30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and several have died.
Below are some very sound take home lessons:
"if people do not recognize the meaning"
This is how the NKJV renders 1 Corinthians 11:29, For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 3."_
What does it mean to eat the communion in an unworthy manner? Does it mean to partake in the communion without being holy enough?
Well, eating and drinking at the Lord's Table without recognizing the meaning is exactly what eating in an unworthy manner means.
The Greek word used there also means irreverently.
You know, it is said that when the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable.
The Corinthians, for example, had a wrong attitude to the communion because they had a poor understanding of its purpose.
This is why Paul had to explain the significance of the communion to them all over again in this chapter of 1 Corinthians 11.
God says that eating the Lords body and drinking His blood without understanding why He asked us to do so, is irreverence.
Calling for Judgement
Partaking of the Lord's Table with a lack of understanding attracts the judgment listed in verse 30: weakness, sickness and untimely death.
These are the results of having a casual and non-spiritual approach to the communion.
Now, if these are the results of partaking of the communion without knowing the meaning, it therefore means that if we participate of it with a good understanding of the meaning, these things won't find a place in our lives.
What would it be like to live strong, healthy and to live long? I'm sure you want that.
We can therefore say that the communion, practiced with the sacrifice of Jesus as the focus, is one of the God given prescriptions to stay strong, to live healthy and to live a long life.
When the Holy Spirit began to establish me in the understanding on the Lord's Table, one of the scriptures that made a tremendous impact in my life was from the epistle written to the Hebrews.
So, let's examine it.
Hebrews 12:3
For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
Take Home Lessons:
"consider Him"
We are instructed here to consider (think over and contemplate) Jesus.
If not the communion, what else can help us do exactly this?
The reason Jesus instituted the communion was so that as often as we sit at the Lord's table, we can replay His death (how He died, what He suffered, why He suffered and what His death means) before our eyes.
The primary essence for the communion is so that we can think over and contemplate Jesus, the lamb of God who gave His life as a ransom for us.
God wants us to remember the unfriendliness Jesus was shown, the wickedness with which He was treated and how they hated Him for no just reason.
God wants us to remember how they falsified details just to see Him but to death, how they campaigned for his elimination, how men and women called for His execution although they knew very well He was innocent of death.
They hated Him without a cause.
God wants us to remember these.
He also wants us to remember how Jesus held up strong under all the hostility and barrage of unkindness.
The communion was given so we can remember how Jesus endured all the maliciousness and hostility directed at Him and how He went through all of it to lay down His life..
"lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls"
Remembering how Jesus patiently endured the ill treatment of men, keeps us from growing weary and discouraged in our minds.
What does this mean?
As we face the challenges of life, we need to draw inner strength and mental stamina from somewhere.
We need fresh inspiration to stay fresh, vibrant and hot. Without this inspiration we will grow tired and give up.
Scripture says that setting our hearts on the sacrifice of Jesus keeps us from getting tired and giving up.
Considering Jesus refires our zeal and passion to work the works of Him who sent us while it is day, no matter the oppositions and hatred of men against us.
Considering Jesus strengthens us for the assignment and commission we've been given by God.
It helps us remember He suffered a whole lot more than anything we've faced, are facing and can ever face.
As we consider the way He first loved us and loved us enough to go the full length, we find ourselves in return loving Him greatly.
Conclusion
If believers partook of the communion more often, with sound teachings centered on the sacrifice of Jesus, the result in their lives will be more zeal and passion for Christ.