A Communion Message by Jay Wegter
Preparation of our Hearts for the Lord’s Table
I. What does the Lord’s Table signify?
The Westminster Confession, in one lengthy sentence provides an excellent summary of the significance of the Lord’s Table: Our Lord Jesus wherein the night He was betrayed instituted the sacrament of His body and blood called the Lord’s supper to be observed in His church unto the end of the world for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of Himself and His death, the sealing of all benefits thereof unto true believers, their spiritual nourishment and growth in Him, their further engagement in and to all duties which they owe unto Him, and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with Him and with each other of members of His mystical body.ⁱ
“In remembrance,” involves more than just memory. The words suggest an active calling to mind. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Cor 11:25). Christ’s statement points to the sphere and basis of the new covenant blessings. In other words, “This cup is the new covenant and it cost my blood” (Barclay).ⁱⁱ Our blessed safety and favor within the new covenant is all because of our Savior’s sacrifice.
Should the service be minimized into the view of the Reformer Zwingli, that it is no more than an occasion when we remember Christ? Jonathan Edwards argues that there is a very real gift of the Savior in the sacrament. The sacrament is a medium of communion with the body and blood of Christ, and a real means whereby faith appropriates the blessings which flow from the glorified Christ in virtue of His death.ⁱⁱⁱ (See Romans 8:33-34; Hebrews 7:24-25). John Calvin observes: The supper is a mirror which represents Christ crucified to us, which means you cannot receive the supper and enjoy its benefits unless you embrace Christ crucified. Thus, the supper is a memorial provided to assist our weakness. Otherwise, we would not be sufficiently mindful of the death of Christ.ⁱᵛ
II. What we learn from the desecration of the Lord’s Table in Corinth.
The instructions for observing the Lord’s Supper given though the apostle Paul appear in a context in which he is correcting abuses of the Lord’s table. It is shocking to the readers of the New Testament that these infant Christians in Corinth were so bound up in their own affairs that they made no effort to accommodate themselves to their brothers and sisters. There was a neglect of edification. This led to a desecration of the gifts of God in the ordinance of communion. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine that they would come to the Lord’s table some intoxicated, and some with a large amount of food unwilling to share with their hungry brothers and sisters.
What happened in Corinth during the communion supper was a travesty of love. For, the wealthier members of the congregation formed cliques and kept food within their circle of friends depriving the poor and hungry members of a meal.ᵛ Listen to how Paul chides them in 1 Corinthians 11:18, “For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear there are divisions that exist among you; and in part I believe it.” But then he continues in verse 19, “For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you.” And so, despite the evil one’s efforts, leaving no stone unturned in seeking to break the unity of the Spirit of the church, the devil’s contrivances only work to further demonstrate who the faithful are and revealing their uprightness more clearly. But also, it tends to demonstrate who the ungodly are as well.ᵛⁱ
Now returning to Paul’s reproof of the Corinthians for their abuse of the communal meal, the apostle gives the following rebuke. “Therefore, when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? 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 will not praise you” (1 Cor 11:20-22).
The message of oneness in mutuality and commonality that the Lord’s table was to celebrate, was obscured by people not caring for one another. This historical account of abuse is the context in which we hear through Paul, the proper use of the Lord’s Table. The apostle unfolds how to be prepared for it, how to deal with it reverently, and how to appropriate it as a powerful means of grace for the church.
Those guilty of sinning against ‘the blood and body of the Lord’ (11:27) included those who despised the poorer member by utter disregard for his need. These unworthy partakers who despised their brethren produced disunity and alienation. They needed to examine themselves and discover that God did not approve of their behavior. They had wronged their brother and needed to ask his forgiveness. Coming to the Lord’s supper without that sin confessed brought judgment on the guilty participants. They had sinned against the unity of the body of the Lord.ᵛⁱⁱ
III. The communion table is an ordinance entrusted by Christ to His church.
Beginning in 11:23 the text recalls our Lord’s celebration of the Passover meal (at the Last Supper). “For I received from the Lord that which I also declared to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is my body which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is a new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes” (1 Cor 11:23-26).
On the night of the Last Supper the Lord entrusted the remembrance of this new covenant to His disciples. “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (Lu 22:19b).ᵛⁱⁱⁱ This observance occurred at a time just hours away from His own sacrifice on Calvary’s cross. The disciples would not have to wait any longer before seeing what this supper foreshadowed, and what these elements of the broken bread and the blood of the grape depicted.
In 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 we are told that believers are sharers of the body of Christ. “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.” In other words, this visible sign or symbol of the broken bread depicts a spiritual reality behind it—of oneness with Christ and oneness with the members of His body—for all true believers have life in Christ in common.
The apostle is imbuing the minds of his readers with the fact that the communion supper is a distinctively ‘religious meal’ (10:16-17ff.). Therefore, they must not naively think that they can participate in pagan temple feasts without being involved in idolatry.ⁱˣ Here is the reason why, to receive the food of sacrifice is to enter into fellowship with all the altar stands for.ˣ And, in the case of the temple feasts, the sacrificial altars with their idols were sacrifices to demons—thus the participant is a ‘sharer with demons’ warns Paul (10:19-21)
“To share rightly in the bread and wine (11:29) is a participation (Gk. Koinonia, a common sharing) in the benefits won by the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ (Rom 3:25; 5:9). The worshippers are thereby bound in fellowship with the living Christ, and so with one another. That unity is symbolized by the use of the one loaf (1 Cor 5:7).”ˣⁱ C. K. Barrett comments on the term, “the cup of blessing” (1 Cor 10:16). “Christians participate together in the benefits of Christ’s passion; the participation however is not impersonal, since both Christ and Christians are persons, and are related in personal terms.”ˣⁱⁱ
To express how Christ’s life is given to us via his death and resurrection, our Lord uses metaphors in John 6:50-51 of ‘eating’ and ‘drinking’—i.e., appropriating His work by faith. In speaking of His upcoming death, He says the following, “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh.” Now this was a very hard saying. The Jews stumbled over this saying. Many of them walked with him no more, and yet, our Lord is communicating through metaphors the fact that believing in Him and His finished work imparts eternal life and fellowship.
Our eating and drinking the communion elements is a picture of the benefits of Christ’s life-giving work granted to believers by faith. Only true believers are to partake of the Lord’s Supper. As Hodge notes, we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He loved us and gave Himself for us— that His blood cleanses us from all sin—that in the sacrament He offers us with the symbols of His broken body, and His shed blood, the benefits of His death, and that He will certainly convey those benefits to all those who hold out even a trembling hand of faith to receive them.ˣⁱⁱⁱ
When believers celebrate the Lord’s Table, they are calling to mind the breaking of Christ’s body by which sacrifice they were brought into union with the Savior. The book of Ephesians is replete with passages about our life in Christ by virtue of union with Him—the believer is said to be, “in Christ,” “in Him,” “in Whom.” This epistle unfolds so beautifully our oneness with Him. Christ imparts His life to us by the secret power of the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit has joined the believer and Christ together in this glorious living ‘organic union’ of shared life (Rom 6:5; 1 Cor 12:13).
IV. The communion table reminds us of the benefits Christ communicates to us.
He was sacrificed for us, and these benefits become ours only when we are indwelt by His Spirit. By His grace we are united with Him in one life (1 Cor 12:13-14). “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones” (Eph 5:30, KJV). God be praised, the church is intimately and inseparably connected to Him.ˣⁱᵛ
When partaking of the elements of the Lord’s table, it is a reminder that the Lord is holding out to us the benefits of His broken body for us. This body which was so awfully broken, almost unrecognizably so, is now a resurrected body in Heaven. From Heaven, as our great High Priest and intercessor, our Lord is praying and interceding for His people (Heb 7:24-27). He sends down the efficacy of His flesh once for all offered (Heb 10:10) (Calvin).ˣᵛ
The Lord’s table is a memorial designed in many ways to assist our weakness, for we have
trouble focusing our attention on unseen things (Col 3:1ff.). We are captivated by created things, our interests settling onto the temporal. As a result, there is a falling short of being sufficiently mindful of the power of His death. This is why regularly partaking of the communion table refreshes our thinking—reminding us precisely that the basis of our standing before God is His spilled blood.
The new covenant contains promises that are brought to mind when we partake of the elements of the supper. Christ’s shed blood ratified the new covenant (1 Cor 11:25). His blood poured out is what reconciled us to God. When partaking of the elements of the Lord’s supper, it reinforces how willingly our Savior made the pledge of this covenant—that pledge being: we shall be His people and He shall be our God. He will write His laws on our hearts. He will be merciful to our iniquities and remember our sins no more (Heb 8:10-12). This new covenant is God’s testimony of good will to His people; that is the theme of the new covenant! Thus, as we partake of these elements in the Lord’s table, the design is to make our minds more sure of God’s saving intent behind this new covenant (Heb 6:17-20).
The believer’s conscience that is frequently unsettled. The Lord’s Table is designed to awaken our conscience as to the assurance of salvation. By giving us this ordinance, Christ is reminding us of the benefits of his death. This is one of the reasons why we must be prepared to take the Lord’s Table. If we take it in a haphazard way or an unprepared way, we are not going to enjoy its benefits. For the intent of this ordinance is to feed our inner life of faith that we might be more courageous, bold, and active in living upon Christ’s fullness. For He was given to make us complete (Col 2:10). Everything we need for life and godliness is found in Him (2 Pet 1:3). In partaking of these elements, the death of Christ should be sealed upon our consciences. As it says in Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of Christ rule (umpire or arbitrate) in your hearts.”
The Lord’s table is a celebration of Christ given to us to be the health-giving food of our souls. The supper is a heavenly act says Calvin of great spiritual value. There is nothing absurd about saying that Christ remains in heaven and yet is received by us in communion. He imparts Himself to us by the secret power of the Holy Spirit. ‘This is my body given for you’ means spiritual food for you. He imparts Himself to you from heaven (Calvin).ˣᵛⁱ
This present author offers his university students the following counsel. “When you meditate on the Lord during communion, don’t think solely about the agony He endured, which certainly is part of our meditation, but think about the fact that to bring you to God and make you part of His forever family, real objective justice had to be done in the case of your personal sins. So fully was justice carried out in the matter of your sins that God is satisfied on your behalf (1 Jn 4:10). This all took place that you might have an eternal love relationship with Almighty God and be adopted as His child.”
V. The biblical instructions for celebrating the supper include the necessity of preparation by means of self-examination.
Scripture gives us the instructions in how to observe the Lord’s table in terms of preparation. The context is one of correcting abuse, thus the text links preparation by self-examination to: ‘properly esteeming or discerning the offering of the body of Christ’ (11:27-29). Christ’s body was offered to satisfy the justice of God (Rom 3:25), but His sacrifice also produces incredible changes in a believing sinner. It quenches our lusts (Rom 6:11; 1 Jn 3:8). It crucifies the dominion of our old life (Rom 6:3-7). It makes us new creatures (2 Cor 5:17). It carries the curse away (Gal 3:13-14).
Thus, when believers participate in the Lord’s Supper they are making a public profession that their faith in God rests completely on Christ’s finished work and upon His ongoing intercession in heaven. Partaking of the communion ordinance is designed to enlighten our souls, to feed our hearts, to remind us of the Savior who bought us by His blood (Acts 20:28). It is not to be entered lightly. Believers are to examine themselves, cleanse themselves, and prepare themselves. The Lord expects us to come to His table in deep gratitude. That gratitude is expressed in a willingness to search our hearts, cleanse ourselves, and not be of those who desecrate this ordinance (1 Cor 11:27-30).
Thus, communion is a very purifying ordinance for the church at large because in regularly taking of the Supper we are dealing with the things that interrupt our fellowship with the Lord and with each other. The following verses describe what it means to come to the Lord’s table in an unworthy, or unexamined manner, “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly” (1 Cor 11:27-29).
We bring faith to this table—namely that Christ is the reason we are accepted by God and have been justified and have His favor. But we also are to bring an attitude of repentance to the table. We come in a contrite frame of mind (Is 57:15-16). We are humbled by the knowledge of our own wretchedness (Is 66:1-2). We come to the table, in a way, dissatisfied with our own performance. Therefore, the table is a reminder that we are not coming based upon our level of obedience. We are always willing to fall back completely upon the grace that is in Christ (Rom 5:1-2). We rest upon that justifying and cleansing mercy. We examine ourselves under this attitude of repentance, and from that attitude of repentance comes a more full and free unhindered love to God and the brethren.
VI. There are consequences for coming to the table in an unprepared manner.
Now in 11:27-32, the apostle is dealing with the consequences of coming to the Lord’s table in disregard of self-examination. God is saying to those who mock the solemnity of this ordinance, that He is going to punish them. He is going to discipline them, and perhaps severely. The warnings here are very graphic, even startling. So, to live in unconfessed, unrepented sin, and then take the Lord’s table is to come to His table in an unjudged (unexamined) manner. This could open the person up to severe punishments.
The unprepared person “does not judge the body [of the Lord] rightly” (v. 29). This is an interesting, even unusual way of saying that we need to come to the table in an examined state—a state in which we have done the necessary soul-searching: “are we living with sin, in a détente or peace treaty with it?” If so, not only is this a private travesty, but also one that is public. For when you take the elements, other believers see you—and by taking the elements you are literally saying publicly, “I am walking in obedience to my King and my Commander, to my Champion and Lord. My life direction conforms to what he requires of His followers.” Therefore, to take the cup in an unworthy matter is to live a lie. It is basically to say, “I am not a hypocrite,” when one IS living hypocritically.
The Lord sacrificing Himself was for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil (1 Jn 3:8). Therefore, if we are living in sin and then partaking of the cup, it shows a deep disrespect for the entire reason that Christ was offered. For His effectual sacrifice was to deliver His people from the penalty and power of sin, and bring them to God, and ultimately to glorify them. Is it any wonder then that Paul warns the Philippian believers that professors of Christianity who live by their sinful passions are, ‘enemies of the cross of Christ’ (Phil 3:18)?
Thus, to take part in an unworthy manner (i.e., carelessly) is to deny the purpose of Christ’s self-offering. It is to share the guilt (v. 27) of those responsible for the crucifixion, rather than by faith to receive the benefits of His sacrifice. “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord” (11:27). Therefore, in view of this biblical directive to come prepared, the worshipper must examine himself, taking stock of his spiritual condition and his motives, for He is directly answerable to the Lord.ˣᵛⁱⁱ
Paul issues the warning to those who partake of the Lord’s table recklessly, without self-examination. To the unprepared, God’s discipline may be grievous. “For this reason, many of you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly [examined ourselves], we should not be judged [chastised]. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1 Cor 11:29-30). It is sacrilege to eat of the table in an unprepared way (Calvin).ˣᵛⁱⁱⁱ
VII. Believers are to examine themselves—and thereby ‘discern the Lord’s body’.
Those who come to the Lord’s table guilty are ‘unworthy’ because they do not discern the Lord’s body (v. 29). In other words, their lack of preparation shows no discernment that the Lord died and was crushed, that He might deliver his people from sin’s penalty and power. Yet if you’re under the control and power of sin when you partake of the table, then you are making a mockery what the Lord did to make us His holy servants (Phil 3:18-19). No one should approach the Lord’s table without being truly prepared by self-examination.
Commentator W. Harold Mare makes a convincing case that Paul’s teaching justifies the wholesome practice of having a communion preparatory service. A preparatory service affords opportunity for such self-examination.ˣⁱˣ How true! For if the meaning and gravity of the Lord’s Supper is seldom if ever preached, participants will not grasp its great value, significance, and seriousness.
Believers must learn to devote themselves to Christ and His service in a wholehearted way, not compromised by having peace treaties with sin in areas of their lives. Because the Lord’s table is a celebration of communing, or fellowshipping with the Lord and with His people, it is designed also to promote a wholehearted unity of the body—a unity He has committed to us. In passages such as Ephesians 4:1-3, believers are required to guard the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace that exists between the brethren. Thus, reconciliation between Christians is an important part of preparation before partaking of the table (Mt 5:23-24; Rom 12:18; Heb 12:14).
Now it is a fact that no saint is perfect—or perfectly conformed to Christ—but faith and repentance, and love and gratitude are important ways to prepare to partake of the table. Partaking of the supper is not to be entered into blithely—for those individuals who are not disturbed by their own sin will necessarily be disturbed by God’s chastisements.
VIII. The Lord disciplines unprepared partakers for an important reason.
As in the fear of the Lord, so also at the Lord’s Table there is both deep reverence and joy. We normally do not associate things of great gravity and seriousness with celebration. But both elements are present in the communion supper. Christ’s sacrificial love for His people is joined to His absolute authority as Lord of all. Thus, C. K. Barrett observes: the self-manifestation of Christ calls men to obedience and this means that at the same time it calls them to account before the final Judge who is already today acting with His community as He will act towards the world on the Last Day. He bestows salvation by setting men within His Lordship and if they spurned this Lordship, they then experience this act of rejection as the self-incurred sentence of death.ˣˣ
Bear in mind that those disciplined are people who know God—this discipline by the Lord is a ‘family matter’ within God’s household. Even though some are sick and dying, God is not afflicting them in vindictiveness. He is not leveling on them the full penalty of their sin. Spiritual ills may have spiritual results. The ill health and even the deaths of some of the Corinthians had spiritual causes. Paul is not referring to the natural results of excesses (such as alcoholism, or social diseases) but, to the direct chastening hand of the Lord.ˣˣⁱ If we truly discerned what we are like, distinguishing what we are and what we ought to be, we would be “judging ourselves rightly” (1 Cor 11:31).ˣˣⁱⁱ
This chastisement the Lord brings has a goal. He wants to bring these individuals to repentance. They refused to consider the sins in their life, even though this ordinance was the appointed opportunity for self-examination. They refused to really repent and mortify the sins in their lives. And because they refused to do that due to their apathy and negligence, the Lord is going to wake them up. He’s going to address their negligence with the full force of divine discipline described in verse 31. This is intended to make them take stock of themselves, to look to the remedy, to stop being complacent, but to voluntarily condemn themselves in genuine repentance.
By His chastisement of them, God is incentivizing them to repent. The response God requires to His discipline is that they stir themselves out of their lethargy, face their sin, and forsake it. We call that activity penitence, or biblical self-confrontation. This is vital, for every growing believer must strive to learn to use the sword of Scripture on himself. The Lord’s scourging is designed to break up the hardened soil of the heart, uprooting the sinner’s stubbornness. This repentance, this mortification of sin is not the sinner making atonement for his sins. It is the believer responding properly to Christ; to His Lordship, and to the full sufficiency of His sacrifice.
When God chastises in a severe way, He does it out of concern for the salvation of the elect —"that they may not be condemned along with the world” (11:32). God does not desire nor permit His true sons to perish, and so He will chastise them for their recovery. He will call them back from the edge of destruction, causing them to submit themselves to Him again in humility. This is what His correction accomplishes. He will bring them back to a place of obedience. They will mortify the permissiveness of their flesh. They will see their own weakness, and they will be far more consistent in bringing their hearts to times of prayer and spiritual gladness. This is the ‘peaceful fruit of righteousness’ gained by His discipline, spoken of in Hebrews 12:11.
What an infinite privilege it is to belong to the Lord, and to partake of this ordinance which refreshes our souls, feeds our hearts, and reminds us of God’s kind intentions toward us in Christ.
Our adoration and grateful loyalty to Christ is reflected in our careful self-examination and preparation that we might partake of His table in a worthy manner.
End Notes:
i Westminster Confession 29.1
ii S. Lewis Johnson, “1 Corinthians,” The Wycliffe Commentary, C. Pfeiffer, E. Harrison Eds. (Chicago: Moody
Press, 1962) pp. 1248-1249
iii Leon Morris, “1 Corinthians,” Tyndale N.T. Commentaries, (Leicester: IVP, 1985) p. 158
iv John Calvin, Calvin’s N.T. Commentaries, vol. 9, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdman’s, 1960) p. 248
v Leon Morris pp. 156-157
vi John Calvin, p. 239
vii Bible Knowledge Commentary, J. Walvoord, R. Zuck, Eds. (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1983) p. 532
viii Calvin, p. 242
ix Geneva Study Bible, p. 1812
x Leon Morris, pp. 143-145
xi The New Bible Commentary, D. Guthrie, J. A. Motyer, A. M. Stibbs, D. J. Wiseman, Eds (Grand Rapids: Wm.
B. Eerdmans Pub. 1953) p. 1064
xii C. K. Barrett, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Black’s N.T. Commentary (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson
Publishing, 1968) p. 232
xiii Charles Hodge, I & II Corinthians, Geneva Series Commentaries, (Carlisle: Banner of Truth Trust, 1958)
p. 228
xiv MacArthur Study Bible, p. 1813
xv Calvin, pp. 246, 250
xvi Ibid, pp. 246-247
xvii The New Bible Commentary, pp. 1066-1067
xviii Calvin, p. 252
xix W. Harold Mare, “1 Corinthians,” NIV Commentary, Vol. 2, K. Barker, J. Kohlenberger III, Eds. (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1994) p. 640
xx Barrett, p. 272
xxi Morris, p. 161
xxii Ibid, 162