Creation to Christ: Reading 43 – September 19, 2016 – Luke 22:14-23, 1 Corinthians 11: 17-34, The Lord’s Supper

Today’s Readings

Context 

A few days ago, we read in Jeremiah 31 of the New Covenant God promised to Israel. Here, Jesus instituted a new covenant with his disciples, the great reminder of what he would go through the next day. The church was to take the bread and the cup as a memorial of the Body and Blood of Christ. 

Devotional - The Unworthy Worthy

There is one very important word in the passage on the Lord's Supper, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, a single word that changes everything. Verse 27 gives this warning:

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.

Imagine a small change to that verse. It says that we must observe the supper in a "worthy manner" (well, not in an unworthy manner - same thing). Imagine that the word "manner" was missing and it just said that we had to be worthy to receive the supper. I'd be in trouble, how about you? Go ahead, you can admit it. You would never be worthy of God's grace and neither would I. 

We don't have to be. We do not have to be worthy of the supper, but simply have to observe it in a worthy manner. What is that? It has nothing to do with how the supper is served or any words we intone or any such logistical or liturgical matters. It has to do with our hearts. 

There are two things we must do to honor Christ and celebrate the supper the right way, in a worthy manner. First, we must remember the death of Christ and honor the meaning of cross. We must be reflective, worshipful, both introspective and celebratory as we think about the fact that Christ bore our sins in his body and washed them away in his blood. But this is the part we sometimes forget. Christ did not simply die for millions of individuals but for ONE BODY, the church. He didn't just die for me, he died for us. If I celebrate the Lord's Supper as simply a time for personal worship and introspection without giving proper thought to the Body of Christ, I've not celebrated the work of Christ properly. 

We must consider both the work of Christ at the cross for our sins and his work for us, the Body. We must give thought to Christ and to his church. 

Father, I thank you for your Son's sacrificial work on the cross and for the Body he purchased with that death. May I give proper regard to both. 

Think and Pray

You will never be worthy of salvation, and yet through Christ you may observe the Lord's supper in a worthy manner. Give thanks to God for that.
Are you observing the supper in a worthy manner - examining yourself and your relationship with the Body of Christ?