Proper Observance of the Lord’s Supper

As I examine the Mosaic Law in the Old Testament, I find frequent feasts or festivals. Many were outlined. At those times all work ceased. The Israelites were to do no “servile work.” These festivals were to remind them of their very significant relationship to God, their Redeemer.

The New Testament holds fewer festivals. In fact, we ordinarily consider only one, which we call the Lord’s Supper. In a real sense, this is not a festival but an observance. In chapter 27 I taught on I Corinthians 10:16-22 to help us understand the meaning of the Lord’s Table, that it is a family table. Christians repeat the observance of the Lord’s Supper on occasion. Some congregations observe it every Sunday. Some observe it on the first Sunday of the month. Some less frequently.

I affirm that the frequency is not as important as how the observance is conducted. To me personally, the Lord’s Supper is a sacred and solemn experience. In a very real sense, we enter the agony, as it were, of Jesus on the cross.

In I Corinthians 11:17-34, Paul instructs us about THE PROPER OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER:

17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.

18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthy, 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 eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh 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 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.

34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

As I examine these verses, I find that Paul set forth several definite GUIDELINES we should follow for The Proper Observance of the Lord’s Supper.

The first guideline is:

17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.

18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

Apparently, the church in Corinth had some deep problems. Their gatherings, Paul said, were not for the better but for the worse. They had divisions, cliques. Yet the divisions revealed who was genuine. They had what you might call “carry-in dinners.” They were not the Lord’s Supper! Somehow they got confused. Their conduct was improper. The apostle had to instruct them that the Lord’s Supper is not to be an ordinary meal! I think that is so important. The assembly of the church is not for rowdiness. When the church gets together for the Lord’s Supper, it is a solemn occasion. It is to be a sacred moment. The psalmist said that it is in order to “be still and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10). There should be a quiet reverence in the assembly, particularly when we come to the Lord’s Supper.

Hear Barnes’s comments:

They had not only erred, therefore, by misunderstanding altogether the nature of the Lord’s supper, and by supposing that it was a common festival like those which they had been accustomed to celebrating, but they had also entirely departed from the idea that it was a festival to be partaken of in common, and at a common table. It had become a scene where every man ate by himself; and where the very idea that there was anything like a common celebration, or a celebration together, was abandoned. So then our first guideline deals with the unruly. Reprimand them. Set them in order.

The second guideline is:

23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthy, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord:

Here we come to the heart of the matter. Paul says his understanding came from Jesus, that he received this directly from the Lord. Here are Paul’s exact words, “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus in the same night in which he was betrayed took bread.” Now I understand this to mean that the apostle Paul had communicated with Jesus. It was not hearsay with him. He did not receive it from any of the apostles.

On the other hand, Paul’s only recorded meeting with Jesus was on the road to Damascus. Yet he said he spent three years away from Damascus in Arabia. I wonder could that be where Jesus met him? He said at another place about his apostleship that he didn’t receive it from men. He received it from the Lord (Galatians 1:1). He claimed direct revelation. His understanding of the Lord’s Supper came from Jesus.

Then Paul gives the order and meaning of the Lord’s Supper. The time of its institution is clearly identified. He said, “The same night in which he was betrayed.” He makes it very clear that this was before Jesus’ crucifixion and in anticipation of it. So He took unleavened bread, the Passover bread, and broke it and said, “This is my body which was broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.” The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was a horrible situation. It was the breaking of His body, so to speak. Now we may remember that when the centurion came to break His legs, he found Jesus already dead. So instead he pierced His side with a spear.

But Jesus said, “This bread symbolizes my broken body which was broken for you.” And then He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

The apostle goes on to say, “After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (verse 25). The cup is a symbol of the blood Jesus shed for us. He said, “It is the New Testament.” The Greek word is often translated “covenant.” This is the New Covenant.

A covenant is what God makes. A testament is a document that people draw up, sign, and seal. But a covenant is what God sets up. This is the New Covenant. Remember, the Sinai Covenant in the Old Testament was sealed with blood. So then the New Covenant is sealed also with blood. The Sinai Covenant was sealed with the blood of an animal. The New Covenant is sealed with the blood of Jesus. And as often as you drink this cup, you commemorate the blood of Jesus, the sacrifice of Jesus.

Then Paul identifies its frequency: “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup you do show the Lord’s death till He comes” (verse 26). Every time it is observed, the participant looks two ways back to Jesus’ death and forward to His coming. The Lord’s words “in remembrance of me” keep before us the real meaning of His death. “This do in remembrance of me.”

Now once again let us hear from Barnes:

This expresses the whole design of the ordinance. It is a simple memorial, or remembrance; designed to recall in a striking and impressive manner the memory of the Redeemer. It does this by a tender appeal to the senses through the exhibition of the broken bread, and by the wine. The Saviour knew how prone men would be to forget him; and he, therefore, appointed this ordinance as a means by which his memory should be kept up in the world. The ordinance is rightly observed when it recalls the memory of the Saviour; and when its observance is the means of producing a deep, lively, and vivid impression on the mind, of his death for sin.

Our second guideline is Remember the Lord’s Death.

Our third guideline is:

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh 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 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.

34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

Now the apostle Paul gets right home. Let it be a self-examination before you present yourself to take the Lord’s Supper. Oh, how we need it! “Let a man examine himself.” Not somebody else, himself. This is an internal review, not a self-esteem, but an internal review. We are all unworthy before the Lord, as far as that goes. We must do as the publican did in the temple that Jesus told us about. He smote himself on the breast and said, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Yes, there is unworthiness in all of us. So self-examination is important.

Self-condemnation can come if one eats the Lord’s Supper unworthily. It desecrates the Lord’s body. Not discerning, Paul says, the Lord’s body. In other words, there is a defiling of the Lord’s body. The uniqueness of the Lord’s Supper requires us to think very seriously and internally when we approach that Supper.

Self-judgment avoids divine judgment. If we judge ourselves, then we should not be judged, the apostle says. The Lord’s chastening is an escape route from condemnation. Every Christian has the chastening of the Lord. The apostle says in another place that if we do not have a chastening of the Lord, then we are not true children of God. We are illegitimate children (see Hebrews 12).

Then the apostle speaks about self-control. We come to the Lord’s Supper with self-control. We do not come with a rowdy spirit. We must provide a proper situation for the Lord’s Supper. No one in himself is worthy. Our worthiness comes from the shed blood of Jesus! Yes. Amen! So we stand before Him, at the Lord’s Table, washed in the precious blood of Christ, as the Scripture teaches us.

Again let me share with you Barnes’s comments:

The practical lesson taught by this is, that Christians should serve God with purity; that they should avoid sin in every form; and that the commission of sin will expose them, as well as others, to the divine displeasure. The reason why this judgment was inflicted on the Corinthians was, that there might be a suitable impression made of the holy nature of that ordinance and that Christians might be led to observe in a proper manner.

Our third guideline is Rebuke the Unworthy.

Therefore, friend, to observe the Lord’s Supper properly we must follow Paul’s guidelines.

Come with propriety.

Ponder its truth.

Make a self-examination and then come.

Come to the Lord’s Supper properly examined and experience the spiritual grace and joy it brings.