In 1 Corinthians 11: 17-31, the writer Paul give the following instructions;
Conduct at the Lord’s Supper
17 Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20 Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. 21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.
Institution of the Lord’s Supper
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Examine Yourself
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
When we read the account of Jesus dying on the cross, burial and resurrection, everything sounds very abstract. It all sounds like a fairy tale. The communion table consisting of the bread and the wine representing the body and the blood of Jesus was instituted when He was still alive, exactly before He got arrested. By doing so, Jesus was establishing something that is abstract in the physical realm. Jesus commanded His disciples to do this in remembrance of Jesus death and resurrection until He comes back again to take us home to heaven.
When we as God’s children, partake from the bread and wine, God nails down the abstract to the physical realm.
The communion table reminds us again and again that we have nothing on our own merit that we can go before God. It’s only the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross that gives each one of us the privilege to stand before this all powerful and holy God. We have nothing in this life to boast about but that we are the redeemed, the chosen ones by a God who gave away His one and only son Jesus Christ to die in our place, for our sins. Jesus chose to separate from His Father to unite each one of us with God.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
God loves you, no matter who you are, what you are going through or where you are born, He loves you deeply, He loves you unconditionally, He cares for you and He is waiting for you to call on to Him.
But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—John 1:12
He is waiting to give you the right to become His child.
