Come To The Table

“Come To the Table”

This morning as a body that is united in and through Jesus Christ we have the privilege of coming to the table to partake in the Lord’s Supper, the ordinance of communion. But before we follow Christ’s command in partaking, I would like address four points about coming to the table. I would like us all to understand His Reverence, His Presence, His Plan and our Response. All of these come from partaking in the Lord’s Supper.

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which 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 {He took} the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink {it,} in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor 11:23-26).

Let us try to understand the reverence due our Lord as we approach the communion table. We should never look at the Lord’s Supper as a tack on to the end of a church service. But instead we should see it as a service all to itself, one that is truly worthy of our Savior. Coming to the Lord’s Supper is one of the two ordinances that we hold as a church, the other being baptism. Jesus Christ Himself commanded us to partake of it. In the book of 1 Corinthians the church of Corinth had been abusing the Lord’s Supper and the apostle Paul wrote them saying, “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. … For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep” (1 Cor 11:27,30). Members of the Corinthians church were becoming physically weak and sick because they were abusing the privilege of the Lord’s Supper. As a matter of fact it states that some even slept referring to the fact that they had died because of this abuse. Each one of us needs to approach the service of the Lord’s Supper with the reverence that is due it.

Let us pray.

“Strengthen and cleanse, O Lord, the hands which will be held out to receive the bread and cup. Grant that our ears, which will hear Your Word and songs, may not be distracted by sounds of clamor and dispute. Grant that the eyes, which have seen Your great love, may behold Your blessed hope in our Savior Jesus Christ; that the tongues, which will sing Your songs, may speak words of truth. Grant that the feet, which have walked in this sanctuary, may walk ever in the presence of Your light, and grant that we who partake the bread of life and the blood of the new covenant will be restored in newness of life through Jesus Christ. Father we pray this all in the name of the One who is the bread of life Jesus Christ AMEN.”

Are you prepared to come to the table? In our pray there were some very practical thoughts for us to ponder as we consider this question. The hands which will hold the bread and cup – what else have they held? Every letter these hands write, every book they hold, must be pure for they themselves are to be sanctified.

The ears that hear the voices of praise on Sunday, what were they attuned to throughout the week? What did they strain to hear? Was it words worthy of a child of God? What are these same ears attuned to at this very minute?

What of the lips that will partake of the bread and the cup – what words have they uttered and what words will come forth? Only wholesome words - clean, kind should be spoken by lips that are so honored.

And the eyes that have seen God’s great love, what else have they gazed upon? Did those visions provide pure and holy thoughts or did the eyes look upon and lust.

Indeed our whole body, inasmuch as it will feed upon the bread and cup, is to be consecrated to God. “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s spirit lives within you” (1 Cor 3:16)? Each one of us who call Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior must in all areas be worthy of our high call.

Did you know that it was the night that Jesus was under the shadow of the cross, when He called for the observance of the Lord’s Supper. In instituting the Lord’s Supper Jesus Christ gave His body and blood. As a matter of fact the Scriptures tell us that He knew the hour had come (John 13:1). The very least we can do is dedicate our body, to Him, through our ever action, every time we partake of the elements.