Lesson Fifteen
The Lord's Supper
"What is the Importance of the Lord's Supper in My Life?"
In What Manner Should the Lord's Table Be Approached?
| A. | With fear and trembling: Paul rebukes the Corinthians for taking this event lightly. They had turned it into some kind of feast for satisfying one's hunger rather than a time of remembering the Lord's death. This is a sacred time and it should be approached with a sacred attitude(1 Corinthians 11:17-34). | 1 Corinthians 11:17 Now
in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together
not for the better, but for the worse. 11:18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 11:20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. 11:21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 11:22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. |
11:25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 11:26 For as often as
ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till
he come. |
| B. | With desire: Jesus Christ desired to eat the Passover with His disciples (Luke 22:15). although the Lord's table should be approached with reverence, a believer should look forward to the Lord's Supper as a way of bringing his attention back to what Christ has done for him. | Luke 21:15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. | |
| C. | With a clean heart: The Bible tells us to examine and judge ourselves when we partake of the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:28, 31). This examination and self-judging is to make sure that our relationship with God is right and that we do not participate "unworthily" (1 Corinthians 11:27,29). 1 Corinthians 11:30 states, "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep" (died). God chastises those that partake who are not clean before Him. The Lord's Supper is a reminder that our sin was the reason for Christ giving His life for our salvation, and God wants us to be clean when we partake of the Lord's Supper. | 1 Corinthians 11:28 But
let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink
of that cup. 1 Corinthians 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. |
1 Corinthians 11:27
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the
Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. |