Welcome once again to our series about feasting on Jesus, or as I call it… dining on the banquet of Christ.
In the last part, we looked at the manna which God provided in the wilderness during the Exodus. We saw how this account also carries a wonderful picture of Jesus.
Now in part 5, we will look at some ways to apply what we’ve learned in these previous studies in daily living.
Jesus, the Bread of Life
In part 4, we saw the manna that God provided from heaven, and we saw that it was quite special… that the door of heaven was opened, and we also hinted at the connection between the manna, and Jesus. So let’s now take a look at 1st Corinthians 11:26-34, and see the connection more clearly:
“26 For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord’s death till he come.
27 Why whoever 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 eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks 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 Why, my brothers, when you come together to eat, tarry one for another.
34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that you come not together to condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.”
Now notice what verse 26 says straight away: as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup— so first of all, this is something that should be done, and done more than once. So the receiving of communion, the bread and cup are important enough for this to be an expected repeated action. Then, we see the primary spiritual purpose of the communion— that when you partake of communion, you show (or proclaim) the Lord’s death.
The obvious question is why does this matter? It’s not disrespectful to ask this question; in fact, I believe God smiles whenever we take time to ask and meditate on questions such as these, because it’s honest, and it shows that we are willing to think.
So, why is it important to proclaim the Lord’s death? The clue is in the next verse: Why whoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
What this tells us is that the bread and cup have something to do with guilt. And a lot of people get hung up on this word unworthily, thinking that if they themselves are unworthy , however here, the word unworthily is an adverb; it’s not talking about the person being unworthy, but the action.
Not Discerning the LORD’s Body
So how can the action of communion be unworthy? This is the key to understanding your new identity in Christ. Again, the clue to what it means to receiving communion unworthily is found in the scripture itself.
29 For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
To eat and drink the communion unworthily is to not discern the body and blood of Christ, broken and shed for us.
In verse 20-23, Paul rebukes this type of behavior, where the people were not recognizing their true need, or the benefit of the body and the blood of Jesus Christ for them (Psalms 103:2-3). But even more clearly then that, look plainly at what verse 29 says: he that eats and drink unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
When someone fails to properly recognize, appropriate, and receive the sacrifice of Jesus for themself, they are eating and drinking damnation, because there’s no other sacrifice sufficient to remove that damnation.
Further application points are in the next verses 31 and 32:
“if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”
In Luke 22:19-20, Jesus said to receive communion in remembrance of Him; and that is what is being spoken of here. If we would examine ourselves in remembrance of what Jesus Christ has done for us, how He has redeemed us, washed us and bought us back from sin, then we would see (as the verse continues on to say) that we should not be judged.
Now notice the two uses of the words “judge” and “judged” in verse 31. Our English translations have done us a disservice here, because in the original Greek text they are two separate words. The first word “judge” is diakrinō which means “to separate, discriminate or decide as an arbitrator”, and the second word “judged” is krinō which means “to condemn or punish”.
Do you see it? One small detail can make all the difference, and this is surely a wonderful difference. So to translate this verse properly in the light of what we have learned, it would read like this:
If we were to arbitrate and separate ourselves with regards to the finished work of Christ Jesus for us, we would see that we should not be condemned.
Now verse 32 is another area of confusion so let’s proceed to study it. But when we are judged (krinō again) we are chastened (trained, lifted-up) by the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. So we can see that this explanation now makes sense with the understanding that we now have. When we are feeling condemned, God trains us and lifts us up through the knowledge of Christ that we should not be condemned with the world.
This, my friend, all comes down to your identity in Christ, and recognizing and receiving what Jesus has done for you.
Let the truth of what Jesus has done, encourage and uplift you today.
Until next time, I look forward to thriving with you again.
Be blessed.
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