What About Communion?

(taken from a message by Paul Snoddy)
SERIES: “IMPORTANT QUESTIONS”

TEXT: 1 CORINTHIANS 11:17-34

TITLE: “WHAT ABOUT COMMUNION?”

OPEN: A. A little girl asked her mother one Sunday morning as she was preparing lunch, “Mommy, why
do you cut off the ends of the ham before you cook it?” The girl’s mother turned and looked at her
and said, “Oh, sweetie, I’m not really sure why, but I suppose you cut the ends off of the meat so
that the meat can better absorb the juices and spices and make it more tender. Maybe you’d better
ask Grandma since she was the one I learned it from. She always did it that way.”
The little girl called her grandmother later that day on the phone and asked her the same
question, “Grandma, why do you cut the ends off of the ham before you cook it?” The little girl’s
grandmother responded, “Oh, sweetie, I’m not really sure. I think it is so that the juices will be
absorbed better. Call your Nana. She is who I learned it from.”
The little girl began to get a bit frustrated with the whole idea, but decided to call her great-
grandmother anyway. “Nana, mom was preparing lunch the other day and she cut the ends off of
the ham before she cooked it. I asked her why and she said that she did it because the juices would
absorb better, making it more tender. She told me to ask Grandma to make sure since she learned it
from her. Well, I called Grandma and she said the same thing about the juices and all, but that she
learned it from you and I should ask you. Nana, why do you cut the ends off of the ham before you
cook it?”
There was a pregnant pause in the conversation and then the little girl heard what sounded like
muffled laughter coming from the other end of the line. “What’s so funny, Nana?” “Oh, sweetie, I
cut the ends off of the ham before I cooked it because my pan was too small!”
1. Many times, we end up doing things for the wrong reasons because no one ever stopped to ask
why.

2. We have developed habits and traditions sometimes based on nothing more than false
information.

3. The church at Corinth was having a multitude of problems
a. This multitude of problems showed itself severely in how they partook of the Lord’s Supper

b. 1 Cor. 11:17-22 – “ In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do
more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church,
there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be
differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. When you come together,
it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for
anybody