In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus Christ
gives us all of himself, withholding nothing.
He says, “This is my body, given for you. This is my blood, shed for you for the
forgiveness of sins.” When we believe
His words, we receive exactly what He says: the forgiveness of sins. And where there is forgiveness of sins there
is life and salvation.
You
might think then that when Christians talk about the Lord’s Supper, we get
excited about it and yet, so often, churches fight about who can and who can’t
come up for communion and whether we are doing it right or not. My Cliff’s Notes answer to this is simple: We
aren’t doing anything at the Lord’s Supper, it’s God’s promise given to us to
forgive our sins. Martin Luther said,
“What is needed is simply a believing heart.”
So
then, why do Christians get so worked up about rules involving communion? We need look no further than 1 Corinthians
chapter 11 for our answer. One sentence
more than any other has people worried about what to do with the Lord’s Supper:
“For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and
drink judgment on themselves.” Nobody
wants to eat and drink judgment on themselves, right, so everyone tries to
figure out what they need to do to stop that from happening. That’s why in some Lutheran church
denominations, you are not allowed to take communion unless you are a member in
good standing of that church—the pastor is taking the responsibility to say
that you will not eat and drink judgment on yourself by judging you worthy to
partake. It’s also the reason why many
churches don’t allow children to take communion until they are older.
However,
this sentence about “discerning the body of Christ” doesn’t stand by
itself. It is part of a much larger
discourse. Tonight, I hope to briefly
show you that, as Christians, we have unwittingly done exactly what Saint Paul
told us NOT to do. Our goal in the
Lord’s Supper should not be to cause people to doubt their faith, but to open
the floodgates so that Jesus Christ can continue giving all He has to everyone
who needs forgiveness.
The
passage actually starts several verses earlier in chapter 11 where Saint Paul
says, “In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings
do more harm than good.” The apostle is
saying that there is something wrong when the Corithians meet to worship
together. “In the first place, I hear
that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you.” He explains that there will be some
differences between God’s people but, and here is where the Lord’s Supper comes
in, “when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for when you
are eating, some of you go ahead with your private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and
another gets drunk. What shall I say to
you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter! For I received from the Lord what I also
passed onto you:” and then he goes through the words of institution.
It
appears that Saint Paul was angry with how the Corinthians were celebrating
communion. It was more like a potluck
than anything else it seems. But the
informality of the occasion doesn’t seem to be the main issue here, the problem
is that some people in the church are eating their fill of bread and drinking a
few glasses of wine and leaving nothing for anyone else. It’s like their own “private dinner” he says. Now, I like to eat with the best of
them. I have trouble with portion
control myself. That’s why I try to eat
at the end of the line when my appetite won’t hurt anyone else’s chances of
eating. The problem with the Corinthian church
is that while the Lord’s Supper is supposed to be Jesus giving all of himself
and withholding nothing, some people in the church are getting nothing while
others are getting stuffed on bread and wine.
In the very next chapter of his letter, Saint Paul says, “Now you are
the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” But this way of celebrating communion has
created division within the church, the one body of Christ, instead.
The
passage continues, “So then, whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the
Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood
of the Lord.” Saint Paul isn’t starting
a new thought here, he is continuing one.
He’s been talking about the problem, and now he her refers to the
problem as eating and drinking in “an unworthy manner”. He then says, “Everyone ought to examine
themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without
discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.” Which body of Christ? The one he’s been talking about the entire
time! The Corinthian church! The one that has been divided and is being
torn apart!
Paul
continues, “If we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not
come under such judgment. So then, my
brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home,
so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.” The Lord’s Supper is not about getting full
on bread and wine—it’s about being fed with the bread of life, Jesus Christ
himself. That’s what is important.
Ironically,
as a church and as Christians, we have created divisions amongst ourselves
rather than discerning the body of Christ especially with regards to the Lord’s
Supper. Setting up divisions about who
can and cannot eat within the body of Christ.
We are called to repent of this behavior in every aspect of our lives. Remember, coming to the Lord’s Supper is
meant first and foremost for sinners, for the unworthy, for Christ’s betrayers,
for those who need him the most. The
only way we can eat of this bread and drink from this cup in an unworthy manner
is to start thinking that somehow we deserve it more than others; thus
withholding the forgiveness of sins from those who need it most. Don’t doubt your faith, believe in God’s good
gift. The Lord’s Supper is still for you
just as it is for all believers in Christ.
Amen.
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