The Lord’s Supper and the Fear of the Lord
Don Jaques
May 28/29, 2005
REVIEW:
The key to developing an intimate friendship with God is understanding and developing a healthy fear of the LORD.
1. To fear the LORD means to have an appropriate awe and respect for God’s holiness and power.
2. To fear the LORD means to hate evil as God hates it. (Prov. 8:13)
This concept of having a healthy fear of the LORD has application in all areas of our lives, but there is some specific instructions about how it affects the way we celebrate the Lord’s Supper each month.
SCRIPTURE:
1Cor. 11:23-32 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.
A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
If we are to partake in the Lord’s Supper we must not do so in an unworthy manner (v. 27).
This means coming without first examining our relationship with the Lord.
This means coming with unrepentant attitudes about sin in our lives.
In order to partake in the Lord’s Supper, we must
recognize Jesus’ sacrifice for us (v. 29).
1Cor. 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.
To make it clearer, Paul speaks of “the Lord’s table”—a term that the Corinthian converts from paganism would readily associate with “tables” used for pagan idol meals. Here is an example of an invitation from an ancient pagan letter: “Chairemon invites you to a meal at the table of the lord Serapis in the Serapeum, tomorrow the fifteenth from nine o’clock onwards.” To Paul, a Christian cannot at the same time participate in the meal at the table of the pagan god and the table of the Lord. (NIV Commentary)
At these feasts – the animal had been sacrificed to appease or to please the false god, and then the people gathered to eat the sacrifice.
Even Jews were familiar with this practice of offering a sacrifice to the LORD and then eating the meat of the animal – it happened at Passover and other times.
When Jesus stood among his disciples on the night he was betrayed, he changed things up. He said he was initiating a New Covenant. Now, when we come the table of the LORD, we don’t eat the animal who was sacrificed. Now we partake of symbols that remind us of the one perfect sacrifice that was offered to appease God – the blood and the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We must, therefore, recognize that our salvation is completely dependant upon the sacrifice of Jesus Christ – we must recognize his body and his blood.
TRANS: Paul then gives a very serious reason why we dare not approach the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner or without recognizing the body and blood of Jesus
Participating in the Lord’s Supper without the fear of the Lord invites judgement into our lives (v. 30).
1Cor. 11:28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
1Cor. 11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
1Cor. 11:30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
If you do come in an unworthy manner, you can expect that God will discipline you. These verses are clear that God judges those who come to the table in an unworthy manner, without a fear of the LORD, and that judgment includes weakness, sickness, and even premature death. Do I really believe this? This is what God’s word says. Judgment – actual physical judgment related to our health- follows from a casual attitude toward the Lord’s supper.
The word also says that if we judged ourselves, we would not come under this judgment. So we must, before we come to the Lord’s table, judge ourselves. God has given us the Holy Spirit for this very purpose – to convict us of sin.
So, before we invite you to come to the Lord’s table today, we’re going to take a spiritual inventory of our lives, and seek those areas which may not put in order. Then we’ll have a chance to repent of those sins.
Imagine every act of your life over the past month has been videotaped. And it has been edited into different categories. As your mind’s eye goes over the images contained on the different reels of tape, see if there is any sinful attitude, action, or thought that needs to be brought to the Lord in repentance.
Let’s watch the first tape…it is labeled relationships. In your dealings with others have you loved and honored them? Has there been any deceit? Has there been uncontrolled anger? Have you represented God’s character to others?
The next tape is called labeled finances. As you watch this you see what you’ve purchased, both actual physical purchases and the monthly subscription services you have. You see your giving to the Lord. You see the way you’ve treated employees.
The next tape is labeled leisure time. Does the Holy Spirit illumine any activities that betray a lack of fear of the LORD? Does He show you any choices you’ve made with your time which keep you from developing an intimate walk with Him?
Take a moment to confess any sins you find, and repent from them.
Now to make sure we are not coming to the Lord’s table without recognizing the body and blood of the Lord, we’ll take a few moments to remember exactly what Jesus did for each of us.
-He was flogged (whipped with jagged stones and glass barbs)
-He had a crown of thorns pressed into his brow.
-He was mocked.
-He was spit upon.
-He was beaten with mens’ fists.
-He had his beard pulled out.
-He was stripped.
-He had nails pounded into his hands and feet.
-He was put on display, naked, in front of jeering crowds, while he gasped fro breath.
-But even through it all he had you in mind as he said “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”
Now, for those who are living in a state of fear of the LORD, who have purified themselves from unrighteousness through repentance and acceptance of the forgiveness Christ has purchased with his blood, I invite you to come and partake of the bread and the grape juice. Come, in remembrance of all Jesus did for you. Come, with a healthy respect and awe of God’s holiness and power. Come, with a hatred for sin. Come, all you who fear the LORD, and receive His grace into your lives once again.
