Communion Message
(Judge yourself then make the changes)
January 9-10, 1999
Pastor Don Sheley

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me. In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

Now on most occasions when we read these words of admonition from the apostle Paul to the Corinthian church, we usually conclude our reading at verse 29 that says, For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. Now last Lord's Day we considered this phrase, the Lord's body, and what I'd like to do is to move to the closing words of admonition oft times overlooked. Paul says, if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged, and the word for judging there means to evaluate, to analyze, and to appraise. And so the apostle Paul sees the table as a time when the light of God's truth shines in upon our hearts and God reveals to us those areas that He wants changed, He wants us to deal with. And it says that if we would appraise and we would evaluate those truths and then the implied is that after God has spoken to me, then I do something about it. I just don't passively let the message from God go by. The apostle Paul says that if I respond and I do something, God will not have to, but if I don't, He will. You say, how do we evaluate and how do we judge ourselves? How do we appraise? How do we analyze? Well, maybe we could do it in the form of questions. Question one, our time with God in devotions with His word, how much time did you spend with God this week alone and with His word? Some possibly in this congregation would have to admit, not once this week did I pick up this Bible to read. A tragedy. And God wants to say something to us about that. His word is life. It is food for the soul and we would never think of going from Sunday to Sunday with only one meal, and yet, we do that spiritually and think we are going to make it in our world. What about my relationships? Are they Christ honoring? For some of us we need to deal with this area of friends, because some of our friends are exceedingly detrimental to our spiritual purpose. And I assure you that if we don't God will because He loves us. And He's going to put us in a situation where it may be painful and hurtful, but He's going to handle it if we don't. What about my commitments of dedication? Those solemn moments before God when I said, God I will do that, and then we've neglected it. We've forgotten it. We've ignored the promise we made to God. God wants to talk to us about that. What about my witness to my community? To my family? To my world? I may be the only voice. I may be the only person that may touch someone else for Jesus. And yet, my lips have been silent and I have failed my Christ. What about my integrity? My honesty with man and God? Paul says if I will allow the searchlight of God's truth to focus in upon my heart and then allow God to talk to me, and then I respond by seeking to change that which God wants me to change. But if I don't, Paul says if I don't do the judging, if I don't change my pathway, if I don't correct what God wants me to correct, He will do it Himself and He does it through chastising. In Hebrews it says, And you have forgotten the exhortations which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He (loves and He) receives." If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? And if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. God loves us as children. And Paul takes the setting as well as the writer of Hebrews within a family. As my children understood the guidelines and the rules of the home, they were responsive and obedient to them, never as a father did I have to interview. I could only enjoy their obedience. But when they chose to disobey the rules. When they chose to ignore their responsibility as part of the family, then as a father I stepped in to correct their ways. And here's Paul's point. God wants to talk to us at the communion table and He wants us to do some spiritual analyzing, and some judging, and then to make some commitments to change. Paul says if I will do that, my heavenly Father will never have to step in and do it for me. Some of us standing here today remember times in our lives where we knew that God was dealing with us about a certain issue, and we just kind of pushed it aside and neglected it. And finally God said alright, if you're not going to do something about it, I will. And He'll bring our lives around into a painful situation where we've got to deal head on with that thing that God gave us ample time to deal with without pain. So Paul says make use of the supper table. If He speaks, you respond and you make your spiritual commitments then do something about it and God won't have to.

Let's kneel before Him today, shall we? Father in heaven, there are some of us kneeling here today that You have dealt with us and we know it. Some of us have been so exceedingly negligent about our devotional life and we've grown weak because of it. And our life has not been the kind of life that brings honor and praise to Your name. Some of us You have told very specifically that certain relationships must cease, and yet, we've lingered on and cherished those relationships to our own spiritual hurt. Please forgive us dear God. As we kneel here and the light of Your truth shines in upon our soul, Holy Spirit of God reveal to us those areas we need to address and need to change with the help of God. Please forgive us for our stubbornness. Some of us who kneel here today, You've been dealing with us about our souls. We know that we need to make a decision for You dear Jesus, and yet we have obstinately and rebelliously refused to make that decision. Lord Jesus, may even now our hearts open up to You and we receive You as Savior and Lord. Speak to us dear God. May this be a table where our lives are changed for Your glory.

Let's take the bread together, shall we? And then the cup. May it be heavenly Father that as we leave this sanctuary today, what You have dealt with us about and talked to us about, we'll take immediate action because we want to be obedient to You our wonderful God. That's our desire; in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen.