Month: April 2023

Where two or three are gathered in His name there are bound to be problems. The Corinthians had problems. In 1 Corinthians 11, the chapter where Paul wrote most about communion, there were problems, factions among the people. The Corinthians were having such obvious problems at the Table that Paul said it couldn’t really be called the Lord’s supper (1 Corinthians 11:20).

There is a legendary phrase in 1 Corinthians 11:27 about eating the bread or drinking the cup of the Lord “in an unworthy manner.” The unworthy participant “eats and drinks judgment on himself” (verse 29), which could result in weakness, illness, and death (verse 30). Some pastors have turned “unworthy manner” into the focus and driven humble believers away from communion, which is also a problem.

Generally in our weekly liturgy we come to the Table in the attitude of the feast that it is. The Lord died so that we don’t face death. We come in thanks for salvation, not fear of judgment.

But obviously the instruction and warning needs to be given. “Unworthy” participation means that it doesn’t fit, it’s not a match with what’s happening. In brief, here are four unworthy ways.

1. Unbelieving. The Lord Jesus Christ instituted the meal as a reminder of His body and blood, of His death for the sin of His sheep. It is a meal for those who actually believe what they are remembering.
2. Unrepentant. It doesn’t fit to be in an ongoing pattern of doing what the Lord had to die to forgive. Communion isn’t for perfect people, but it is not for those who refuse to acknowledge their sin. That applies to non-Christians, to Christians out of fellowship, and in the extreme case for every person in 4th stage church discipline.
3. Unbaptized. Believe/repent and be baptized, that’s the proper order (Acts 2:38; Mark 16:16; also examples in Acts 8:12-13, 18:8). Baptism is the first commandment for a disciple. While often reversed in ignorance, the right order is first, public identification with Christ in the water of baptism and then second, public sharing of the feast around the Lord’s table.
4. Unwelcoming. I thought about mentioning this first, because it’s actually the problem in 1 Corinthians 11. There were divisions among the church, and some were humiliating others. The practicals of our practice make that harder, but you can still “despise the church” who drink wine, or eat gluten, or walk too slowly in front of you. This is a particular version of being unrepentant, but worth singling out as the actual opposite of communion.

Examine yourselves. Parents, teach your kids about this. If you’ve got family or friends visiting, talk to them beforehand.

When Isaiah said that the Lord had His hands held out all day long to a disobedient and contrary people (Isaiah 65:2) he was speaking anthropomorphically. It’s a figure of speech, taking something a man would do and attributing that visible, understandable gesture to God’s attitude. A man with his hands out communicates a tender invite, shows an openness to welcome and a readiness to receive.

Isaiah must rejoice that his prophecy did not remain on the anthropological level but descended to the incarnational level. The Lord took on flesh, He took on His own hands, and His hands are proof of His readiness to receive the redeemed.

When Jesus showed up among His disciples in the locked room on the Sunday of His resurrection, He showed them His hands. When the other disciples told Thomas that they had seen the Lord, he said, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my had into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later Jesus came again among them and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands.” (John 20:20, 25, 27).

The scars proved it was Himself risen from the dead, the marks are reminders of His sacrifice. His love is not only a gesture. The body language communicates more than a sentiment, it accomplished our salvation.

Every Lord’s Day we come to the Lord’s Table at the Lord’s invitation. He welcomes His people with open, and scarred, hands.

In his vision the apostle John “saw a Lamb standing, as thought it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6).

Those whose names have been “written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain” (Revelation 13:8) have been redeemed by the Lamb, they will dwell forever with the Lamb, they are called “the Bride, the wife of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:9). And in the heavenly Jerusalem John saw the lighting situation:

the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, (Revelation 21:23–24 ESV)

The lamp of the Lamb will be so bright and consistent that “There will be no night there” (Revelation 21:25). “Night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).

The Lord’s Table is a reminder of the work of the Lamb, and of our future with Him. “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! (Revelation 5:12)

The bite and the sip are but tastes of the eternal feast, our communion here just a spark of the eternal light and fellowship we will share. Our Lord, the Lamb, come!

Last Sunday began our remembrance of Passion Week. The “Passion” part isn’t referring to a strong emotion, it comes from the Latin word passio meaning suffering. Isaiah foretold that He would be “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). This is the Suffering (Servant’s) Week.

On Sunday Jesus entered Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey and many hailed Him as the Messiah. On Monday Jesus cursed the fig tree and cleansed His Father’s house for the second time. On Tuesday He taught on Mt. Olivet and Judas agreed on a price for betrayal. On Wednesday we don’t know exactly what Jesus did. On Thursday Jesus washed the feet of His disciples and ate the Passover Meal with them, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, was betrayed by Judas, and tried. On Friday Jesus was tried again and again, beaten over and over, crucified, and buried. There is no record of events on the Sabbath, but by early the following Sunday the tomb was empty.

Jesus entered Jerusalem to pageantry and praise. On the day we call Palm Sunday, the crowd was eager to crown their King (according to the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9). They cried out, “Hosanna!” “Save us, we pray!” They laid their clothes and palm branches on the road in front of Him.

He was their Messiah, but not the One they wanted. He offered them life, but not the kind they wanted. He came to defeat their greatest enemy, their death-deserving sin, and to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin. They just wanted Him to defeat the Romans.

And Jesus did, all that and more, though not as the people had imagined. Through His suffering we are free. Through His sacrifice we are forgiven. Through His wounds we are healed. He bore the sins of many, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand (Isiah 53:10-12).