Participating in the Lord’s Supper
The Bible teaches that a person has to be worthy to participate in the service of the Lord’s supper: “Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27). This means that a person has to have the proper reverence for the Lord, whose suffering and sacrifice are being commemorated. The unworthiness could be an unbecoming conduct (verse 21) or a lack of living faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ.
A person who fails to see his guilt in relation to the Savior, and who acts with indifference to the service is guilty of disrespect towards Him. This attitude is similar to that of those who condemned and crucified the Lord. A person who shows such an attitude at the Lord’s Supper might well be considered as rejecting his Lord.
Therefore, before participating in the Lord’s Supper, each person should prayerfully and carefully examine his walk with the Lord to make sure that he is ready to receive the blessings that the Lord intends for him. He should see if he has died to sin and have been faithful to his new birth experience. And besides making his stand right with God, he should also have a right standing with others.
Also, the Christian should examine his thoughts, words and actions to see if it is in alignment to God’s Word (2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 6:4). This self-examination and the putting away of everything that is contrary to the mind of God is an exercise that the Christian should do every day and not just before the Lord’s Supper service (Luke 9:23; 1 Corinthians 15:31),
After examining one’s relationship to the Lord, let the Christian partake of the table of the Lord with praise and thankfulness for all that the crucified Savior has done to him. The Psalmist wrote, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Psalm 100:4).
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In His service,
BibleAsk Team