July 22, 2019

Protecting the Lord’s Table


Many churches, including my own, have fellowship over coffee and doughnuts prior to worship services. In some churches this fellowship time is allowed to extend into the worship service. While the communion meditation is being given, some adults and children are still sipping coffee and hot chocolate, or going back for one more morsel of doughnut. Paul is very protective of the Lord’s Supper. He said, “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not! For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night 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, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:20-27 NIV).


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