Are You Taking Communion Unworthily?

 

You’ve been there many times. You are in church, about to take communion and the leader instructs you to examine yourself to see if you have any sin that you need to repent of so you don’t take the LORD’s supper unworthily. It sounds good and right, but what if that’s not what taking the LORD’s supper unworthily is about?

 What have been some of your thoughts or feelings when this request is made? I will be honest. As a practicing Christian, I try to repent of sins just as soon as I am aware of them. This is what I believe the Bible says I am to do. Waiting until communion time is not. That instruction to examine myself for sin usually winds up with my mind going in one of two directions: I must be missing it somehow if I can’t find any specific sins to repent of, or I feel pity and maybe even a little sense of pride because I have already repented and that sobbing woman two rows behind me is obviously really convicted.  Neither reaction has anything to do with the sacrifice that God made for me. 

 I have also seen this exhortation to examine yourselves for sin actually keep people from participating because they know they are caught up in a sin that they have not accomplished victory over yet. The thing is, without the power of that sacrifice, there is no way they can overcome it. It is only through the shed blood of the Lamb that we will ever be able to have victory.

Don’t get me wrong, repenting of sins is a good thing! But if you read Corinthians 11:17-24 in context, there is only one “sin” this is referring to.

I 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. 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. 19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. 21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 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.

 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: 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. 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. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 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.

 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.

34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

There is a problem in the Corinthian church. The prevailing thought in that time was that people ate by age, gender, and wealth. Rich men ate first and poor toddlers last. If there wasn't enough food, those near the bottom of the pecking order didn't get any. When the church got together in Corinth, they were following this protocol. The attitude among the wealthier was that they didn't need to wait for those servants who were likely to come in last because of their work. In doing so they were judging some as better than others. This admonition to judge ourselves has to do with recognizing that we are no better or worse than anyone else, children included.

 Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

 We are to wait on one another and include everyone. There should be no hierarchy among us. The full-time minister is no more holy than the janitor. We are not to honor one race or gender above the other, to reject a child as "unworthy" is to reject Jesus’ commandment to Let the little children come unto Me. Matthew 19:14

To drink the cup "unworthily" does not have anything to do with what we have done. To "not discern the LORD's body" is to perceive some as more worthy than others. It has nothing to do with a "salvation" prayer or examining ourselves for every little sin. It is recognizing that I am no better or worse than anyone else in the church.

Communion is about what the LORD has done, not about what we have repented of. It is recognizing that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God Romans 3:23. The fact is that without the sacrifice of Jesus and the drawing of Holy Spirit, we are utterly unable to even begin to find our way out of sin. Communion is about The LORD and His Sacrifice, not about us.

Let it be settled in our hearts that no one is better or more worthy that another. That all are worthy because of what HE has done. When we do so, communion becomes what it is supposed to be: a declaration of His sacrifice. It’s about HIM! It’s about HIM! It’s about HIM! Let’s celebrate HIM! Let us declare the LORD’s sacrifice until He comes!