This weekend, we began a new series entitled, "More Than a Ritual". During this series, we are going to look at the things that we do in our Christian life that should be more than just ritual...it should be RELATIONSHIP!
Routines are a part of all of our lives. They are the things that define who we are. Your routines may me different from mine, but you become who you are, by the routines that you live by. Those routines can be as simple as how you lay your clothes the night before work, the way you get dressed in the morning, or how to drive to work can become a routine.
Our routines become our rituals. In some ways, those words are interchangeable.
There are things that we do in church, that many times, we don’t really understand the meaning behind them. In the few short months that we have been meeting as a church, we have addressed some of these things. But in this post, I want to take a deeper look at one of the areas that falls into that category....communion (the Lords Supper).
What I hope is that as a church, we see these moments as more than just a ritual. We see them as more than just something we do because we are in church. Communion ought to be one of those moments in the life of a Christian that truly moves you. It’s should leave a mark on your life. It’s more than just eating a wafer or drinking some juice. Those things have real significance to them.
1 Corinthians 11:17-32 (ESV) 17But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22What! Do you not have houses 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 commend you in this? No, I will not.23For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
I truly believe that the reason that communion becomes ritual or routine for us, is because we don’t really understand it. It’s just something we do because our church does it. If I can be honest with you…the same was true for me for a long time.
When I was a kid, my dad was a pastor. As far as I am concerned he still is. But in those days, we would have communion in church and then the kids would wait until church was over to finish off the leftover juice and crackers. We didn’t understand what we were doing. It was a snack.
But even adults really don’t understand why we do it, when we do it, how we do it. They just know when you see the table upfront or like today, you see the all in ones in front of you, you know what we are going to do.
But communion has significance. It is important and it is more than just a ritual that we do in church. The reason it should be more than a ritual is because of what it represents and the meaning it really has in our lives. It is personal. It’s not just something for other people or a church thing. It’s significance has to do with you and me.
It represents our:
Past
Present
Future
When you realize that it’s deeply personal and more than just eating a wafer and drinking some juice, it should mark you differently. Even as Paul wrote this letter to the church at Corinth (Corinthians), he was already dealing with the how they were coming into the moment. It’s because they were already missing the importance.
When you miss that part of this, it will affect your attitude towards it. You will begin to misuse it. Now maybe you don’t come into communion saying I am going to fill up on this. But you can also treat it with the wrong level of respect and miss the point.
The church at Corinth was coming to this holy moment and bringing prejudices and treating it like it was supper. For many of us in church today, we come to the same place at times. We miss the why and because of it, it becomes routine. We have done it so many times, it becomes just the thing to do.
If there is one thing that should mark our church, it is authentic expression of our faith. Anything less, is just going through the motions. Everything you do in your faith should intensely personal. It should connect to the core of who you are.
The first thing that Paul tackles as it pertains to communion, it the disunity in the church. I am thankful that here at the Assembly, we have a unity that I have not experienced before now in the church. People here truly care for one another and love their church.
But I would tell you today, that the church is bigger than just here at The Assembly. We are part of something larger than just our church. The Apostle Paul starts this passage by addressing the idea of disunity. He is trying to set some things straight. What he says is that some of the things that they are doing are causing more harm than they are doing good.
Today, the same is true. The church as a whole may be causing more harm than doing good sometimes. It’s because we have this knack of setting up divisions between ourselves and our communities. Because of that, there is no way we can effectively reach out to others. (Again, I don’t see that here) But even if we don’t do that, sometimes you can be guilty by association.
When we enter into communion, God wants us to come with the right attitudes and the right motives.
The way the church started in the book of Acts, was the way God wants us to still go about it. It’s not the how we do church, but how we are the church. The church that God wants is one of unity. Acts 2:1 (ESV) When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. It was more than just being in one place, they were there for a reason…
Genuine Fellowship
One purpose
United in their praise for God
They were devoted to the apostles teachings
United in prayer
Filled with the Holy Spirit
It was true fellowship that the early church had. Without that, there is no more spiritual meaning that a group of people who sit in a theater and watch a movie. People are repelled from the church when there is no unity and when there is no true fellowship and love for one another.
Communion should be a moment of coming together. It is time that we search our hearts and see what is really there. When we come together to grow in relationship with one another and with God, something amazing happens. We get to leave behind all the junk in our lives and what the world sees as important. When we do that, we can truly get the benefits and blessings that come from this moment.
When we take communion, it is an opportunity to do 3 things…
1. We get to look back (23-26)
What do I mean by that? When you think about the body and the blood of Jesus, because that is what this wafer and juice represent, what does it mean to you?
The bible says that Jesus was a priest in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 11:17). Why is that important? When you read the book of Genesis, you see this guy talked about in the story of Abraham. He was a king and a priest. His name literally means, “King of righteousness.” He came and served Abraham. It is interesting that he also brought Abraham, bread and wine. (Genesis 14).
Now in this moment of communion, Jesus is represented by becoming the bread and wine. He is bringing full circle the New Covenant. What is the new covenant?
We can read about this new covenant in Hebrews 8-9, but if I summed it up, it is all about how we changed this relationship from being set in a temple, to us becoming the temple. That before we could have learned about the presence of God, but now we can personally experience it. It’s not just something we hear from the elite who go into the holy of holies, but we are now allowed to experience it in our own lives. It’s all because Jesus opened this new covenant to us.
What are looking back at in our lives?
Isaiah 53:4-6 (ESV) 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
In communion we remind ourselves of what Jesus paid for in our lives. Everything that He experienced, was about you, not Him.
Pierced for our transgressions
Crushed and bruised for our iniquities
His wounds and stripes were for our healing
Death is not something that we look at fondly. We attach so many negative things to it. But the death of Jesus is something that we can celebrate. He endured it for your life. Now you have victory over those areas.
We should be reminded that he died for our sins, to pay the debt we could not pay. The bible teaches us that sin has a price. That price is death. You can allow Jesus to pay that price, or you will pay it at the end of your life. He didn’t do it because He had no choice…he did it willingly, meekly and showing his love for us. Even on the cross he still was thinking of those who were mocking him (forgive them father)
Christianity is not just about remembering the historical facts of the crucifixion, it about remembering what it affords in our lives. Its about remembering the relationship that we get with Him as we reach out in faith. It brings the past into our present situations.
2. We should also look ahead! (v.26)
When we have something ahead of us, we have this sense of good coming. It creates energy in our lives. It creates momentum and a sense of anticipation. Communion ought to bring that as well.
Communion is not a funeral time. Its a celebration. That is the attitude that we come into this. We are reminded that we are forgiven and that God is good and loves us. But we also are reminded that another HOPE is coming!
John 14:1-4 (ESV) 1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4And you know the way to where I am going.”
You see can’t divorce the faith of believing of forgiveness of sin, and that Jesus is going to return once again for his people. This is not some alien visitation type of thing. There is coming a real day, that just as he came unexpectantly before as a baby, he will return as the triumphant king!
1 John 3:2 (ESV) 2Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Communion is a time to celebrate that he is going to return. And when he does, he will gather his people and we will become as he is. What a thing to celebrate in your life.
3. It’s a chance to look inside our lives, at the present reality (27-32)
Communion is opportunity to allow God to search us once again. To inform us.
We get to reflect on our own lives…in light of the gospel. Paul does not say that that we are worthy to take communion, he says we are take it in a worthy manner. None of us can make ourselves worthy of this moment, Jesus does this.
Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV) But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.
There are times that we can become ritualistic in our faith, and believe that we are the reason we are saved. We're good people or we grew up with the right things. But our faith is not about us. We are not good on our own. We are accepted because of who HE IS. Our righteousness is filth in his eyes. But because Jesus is the King of Righteousness, He gives us the opportunity to access that in our lives.
How can you do this in a worthy manner?
Examine your heart
Judge the sin in your life
Confess them to the Lord
If you have been saved, you have a prayed a prayer of faith, you don’t need saving again, but you may need to confess sin in your life. You have a choice, you can take the time to judge what’s going on in your life, or God will.
Paul is really saying or encouraging us to go back to the first things he talked to them about. Come as the church of God. Don’t come because of what you are part of, but because of what you are…come humbly, acknowledging you’re not worthy for any other reason than through the blood of Christ.
When we don’t honor that is when we do it unworthily. You have to honor what communion stands for, his death. But you can understand the meaning of the cross and still not acknowledge it was all about love.
Paul tells us v.29, show us that you can bring judgment on yourself if you will not acknowledge the why’s and have an attitude that is right.
Communion can be amazing for the Christian, because we get to come in true repentance and know that we are heard and forgiven. But going through the motions will rob you of this. It will take the place of faith and replace it with ritual.
Move your time of communion beyond RITUAL and find the REAL RELATIONSHIP that is behind it, celebrate and make it very personal to you.
PJ