The Lord's Supper

The Christians in Corinth had turned the celebration of the Lord’s Supper into a drunken feast -- accentuating their divisions in the process. This was no trifling matter in God’s eyes. Paul claimed that many were “weak and sick” and some had “fallen asleep” because of their shameful actions.

How do we avoid practicing the Lord’s supper in “an unworthy manner?” We must never let this familiar celebration slip from reality into a mere ritual. It must not become simply a part of the familiar church landscape, something we do as thoughtlessly as brushing our teeth.

But it isn’t just in the Lord’s Supper where we can carelessly go through the motions. Unfortunately, our churches are filled with people who have little reality in their walk with God. Mark Buchanan explained his own experience after his conversion and a flurry of Christian service:

But something, somewhere, went awry. The zeal fizzled. The fire in my bones became only an ache in the joints. My running became plodding. My lightness became heaviness. My joyfulness became jadedness. I joined the ranks of the murmurers and faultfinders -- those who didn’t like the music or the sermon or the color of the azaleas behind the church -- and I found their number legion.

God has given us the Lord’s Supper as an encouragement to connect in a real way with God. It is a simple rite which we do “in remembrance” of Christ’s death. It is a time we open our hearts to Jesus, thanking him for taking our place on the cross, for leaving the safety of heaven, for forgiving all of our sins, for making heaven a sure hope, for bringing life to our dead souls, for making fellowship with our Eternal Creator possible. And in the intimacy of that praise we are also opening our hearts, letting him examine us:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Ps.139)