Do this in remembrance of Me.

1 Corinthians 11:17-34 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸ For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. ¹⁹ For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. ²⁰ Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, ²¹ for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. ²² What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.

²³ 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; ²⁴ 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.” ²⁵ 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.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

²⁷ 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. ²⁸ But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.²⁹ For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. ³⁰ For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. ³¹ But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.³² But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

³³ So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.³⁴ If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.

In today’s text Paul says:  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.  But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.  For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.  It is no small matter when we participate in the Lord’s Supper. We should not view it as a tradition or an obligation. It should not be just part of our church service, but rather it is a life giving and life changing privilige and a blessing. I have known people, who considering Paul’s warning, have decided not to participate in Comunnion because they were at odds with others in the church. This might seem like the right position to take in those circumstances, but in truth it is far from righteous. Think of the words of Jesus:  “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.”   We are to do it in remembrance of Him. When we choose to abstain from participating in Communion because of unforgiveness, we are choosing to remember an offense rather than remembering Jesus. In truth we are choosing to hold onto the sin of unforgiveness, rather than remembering that Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins. In Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus says:  “If you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”  What then is the result of unforgiveness?  For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.  Romans 6:23 says:  The wages of sin is death.

Again, Paul says:  But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. Rather than holding the sin or offense of others against them, we need to examine ourselves.   In Matthew 7:1-5 Jesus says:  “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.  Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”  The truth about forgiveness is that it is not necessary for us to confront the one who has hurt or offended us in order to forgive them. True forgiveness is between two parties, ourselves and God. If we would remember Jesus, we would remember the model for forgiveness that He demonstrated on the cross. In Luke 23:34 He says:  “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  He didn’t declare their sins. He didn’t make known all of our sins when He died for them once for all. The forgiveness of Christ and the cross was between Jesus and the Father. So too must we forgive the sins and offenses of others without feeling the necessity of confronting them and pointing out their sin.

Here is the good news. Paul says:  If we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.  Romans 8:1 says:  There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  We are no longer condemned for or by sin if we are in Christ. God may allow the consequences of sin to work in us and against us as discipline so that we will judge ourselves rightly, so that as Jesus says, we will remove the log from our own eye in order that we may see clearly to help our brother remove the speck from his eye. The good news for those who are in Christ is that while: The wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.   Colossians 3:23-24 says:   Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.   Remember, when we participate in the Lord’s Supper, it is the Lord Jesus who is serving us. He says: “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.”   To abstain from Communion is to reject the sacrifice of Christ. To remember Him is to:  proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.   We are to remember and proclaim that He died for forgiveness of sin. We are to remember and proclaim that because He lives, because after the cricifixion there was the resurrection, we live as those who are redeemed.

‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’  May I never forget the forgiveness of the cross, that I might walk in the power of the resurrection. Amen.