Spiritual Disciplines:
Celebrating the Lord’s Table
There is a story told of a little church that had an unusual ritual every Sunday morning. When they sang the Gloria Patri they stood, turned to the right facing a blank white wall and sang. Every Sunday without fail they did this. A newcomer to the church was puzzled by this and asked, “Why do you do this?” No one knew. The only answer they could come up with was, “we’ve always done it this way.” That answer did not satisfy the newcomer. Other people were asked the same question. Finally an elderly man who had gone to church longer than anyone else remembered the reason. It seems that at one time they didn’t have hymnals and the words to this song were painted on the large white wall. Everyone stood, turned to the right facing the wall and sang.
Over the years the words faded and the wall was repainted numerous times yet no one remembered the significance for standing and turning toward the wall.
(contributed by Marilyn Murphree)
The reality of this story is that we can lose sight of the significance in the practices of the Spiritual Discipline, so much so, that we forget why we do them in the first place.
Today we want to answer the question, “What is the Lord’s Table (Communion)?” To some this might seem like a very basic question, but to answer this question is to truly understand the Spiritual Discipline that is “Celebrating the Lord’s Table.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NLT)
23For this is what the Lord himself said, and I pass it on to you just as I received it. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took a loaf of bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” 26For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.
Let’s examine further what Celebrating the Lord’s Table truly is.
1. A Memorial
1 Corinthians 11:24-25 (NLT)
24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”
Coming to the Lord’s Table is a practice that Jesus established for us to do in remembrance of Him. Jesus didn’t set a scheduled date or time for us to partake, He simply says, “As often as you do it, remember Me.”
I heard the story of an older couple that was having some trouble remembering so they signed up to take a memory course together. A few months later the husband was out working in his garden when a neighbor stopped by and began to talk to him about the memory course, What was the name of the instructor? The husband paused, then asked “What is the name of that flower that smells so nice but has thorns? You mean a rose the neighbor answered. Yeah that’s it, “Hey Rose, what’s the name of that guy who taught us the memory course?”
(contributed by Clark Bates)
I want to take a moment and talk about Memorials. Why do we create Memorials?
- To honor great lives
- To commemorate great deeds
- To remember great events
- To keep memories alive
- To instruct
When we come to the Lord’s Table, we must come with a heart that is ready to partake as a Memorial unto Jesus. When we do this we are not “commiserating” over His suffering for us, but rather we are “commemorating” Jesus’ triumph over all sin, death and hell!
He has set us free, and when we call our memory back to this very simple thought we regain proper perspective in our hearts and minds.
2. A Time of Communion
com·mun·ion n
1. a feeling of emotional or spiritual closeness
2. an association or relationship
3. a sense of shared religious identity and fellowship, especially between members of different Christian denominations
When we partake of the elements we are in communion with Jesus, experiencing closeness with our Lord and Savior.
1 Corinthians 10:16 (NASB)
Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
A. The act of communion is a “Declaration of Dependence”
If we look in the Gospel of John, specifically the 6th chapter, we are presented a teaching by Jesus that parallels the Communion Table, and acknowledges an utter dependence in partaking of the Lord’s Table.
Jesus has just fed the 5,000 with the 5 loaves of bread and two fish, and now at another location people are clamoring for another miraculous feast. Jesus sees this, and calls them on it in
vs. 26:
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. (NLT)
Jesus then goes on to challenge the crowd on the issue of discipleship and true communion with Him with a very vivid analogy:
John 6:53 (NLT)
So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.
To most of the crowd, and to some of us today, this sounds like cannibalism right? But Jesus was not concerned with the ever-thinning crowd. He wanted to find and address those who would seek to truly understand and enjoy a relationship with Him.
The remaining disciples questioned his words (did he really just say that?) and listen to Jesus’ response.
John 6:63 (NIV)
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
The Disciples did not fully comprehend yet because Jesus would later partake of the Last Supper with them and give a physical representation of what it meant to “drink of His blood, and eat of His flesh.”
Jesus is saying, “Look beyond the physical! The flesh means nothing. You must feed that which is eternal, not what is temporary.” Jesus is also telling them, you must do this practice to continue to receive spiritual nourishment, not physical.
Jack Hayford writes in his book “The Spirit-formed Life”:
“A person who is seriously anemic may need periodic blood transfusions to regain strength and health. Similarly, by partaking of the Lord’s Table, we receive transfusions of His holy power through the pure dynamic of the blood of Jesus Christ—power to conquer sin in anyway it seeks to dominate our lives.”
We need to practice this Spiritual Discipline as much as any other. It’s more important than something we do in service! If done with the right heart, it is life giving for the soul.
3. A time of Self-Examination
1 Corinthians 11:27-31 (NLT)
So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.
A. Test our Hearts
This passage calls us to “examine” ourselves, and the Greek translation of this is a verb that is descriptive of running a test. In simpler terms, this passage states that we are to:
“test our hearts toward the Lord and one another when we come to the Lord’s Table.”
What are our attitudes? Are there quarrels between you and those within the church? Has the sin in your heart separated you from the Lord? Are you approaching Communion as another ritual or routine?
When we come to the Lord’s Table, we need to come ready to Test Ourselves against our Lord, and Confess our shortcomings! Remember, we are commemorating what Jesus has done to set us free from these things! What better time to make your heart right?
Corinthians 11:32 (NLT)
32 Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
Disciplined = Trained! There are those who would say that Paul is addressing those who have sinned as partaking in an “unworthy” manner, and we should be sinless when we come to the Lord’s Table.
I heard the analogy: Saying you can’t come to the Lord’s Table because you’ve sinned is like saying to a starving man, “You can’t eat any food until you get over your malnutrition!”
Matthew 11:28 (NIV)
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
We are called to His table to receive forgiveness for our failure, and nourishment and power for living!
The “Unworthy Participation” is addressing those who had made the celebration of something else (routine, irreverent, empty ritual), and therefore they were suffering for it!
“In remembrance of me,” should hold more weight when we approach the Lord’s Table.
4. A Time of Proclamation & Celebration
1 Corinthians 11:26 (NIV)
For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
As you partake of the elements of the Supper of our Lord, you proclaim to your own heart and to others your faith in the fact that Christ Jesus gave himself on the cross for our sins. He demonstrated the divine opposition to sin and a divine determination to redeem us. He demonstrated the love of God.
I don’t know about you, but for me that’s cause for celebration!
Author Leo Buscaglia tells this story about his mother and their “misery dinner.” It was the night after his father came home and said it looked as if he would have to go into bankruptcy because his partner had absconded with their firm’s funds. His mother went out and sold some jewelry to buy food for a sumptuous feast. Other members of the family scolded her for it. But she told them that “the time for joy is now, when we need it most, not next week.” Her courageous act rallied the family.
When you come to the Lord’s Table:
- Remember
- Commune
- Examine (Test) Your Heart
- Celebrate
- Enter into a time of Communion & Prayer
