Communion Message
(I'm not worthy, and neither are you)
January 19, 2003
Pastor Leighton Sheley

This passage in 1 Corinthians Chapter 11, it says, For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night 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, after supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. This is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

Over the centuries this passage has sometimes been misunderstood. It says that the word is unworthily in some translations, and some people have thought that's an adjective that describes them. They're thinking, well I'm not worthy so I shouldn't partake. I think it needs to be clear that no one is worthy. The Scriptures they all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is no one that's worthy.

That word is not an adjective. It's an adverb. I remember in school my teacher telling me that if the word ends in 'ly' it's an adverb. Adjectives describe a noun. We are a noun; person, place, thing. It's not a description of us, unworthy. It's an adverb. It describes an action, and the Scripture is saying we should not lightly and trivially partake of the elements that we have. And so that there is no misunderstanding as to what that means, the writer says that we should not partake without discerning the Lord's body. Because if we fail to consider the Lord, then we're taking judgment upon ourselves.

Now the Scripture also talks about us examining ourselves. Going back, once again, to school days I remember examinations, and not very fondly. I wasn't very good at them. But examinations are there for a purpose, and it's not just to make us feel bad. I remember getting my examinations and what they told me is there needed to be a behavioral change. I needed to study more in that class that I wasn't getting the grade in. And there's a purpose when we examine our self at times like this, and it's not just to feel bad about ourselves and the sins we've committed, it's to make some adjustments in our behavior.

What is the behavior that we should model? Well, we should be like Jesus Christ, and we can't exactly do that, can we, perfectly? The good news of the gospel is that it's not us who does the good things, that gets the good grades, if you will, in our examinations. In fact, without the Holy Spirit residing in us we can't do anything good. But we do have a part, and our part is that often times we resist the Holy Spirit telling us what we should do. There's that struggle between the old sinful nature and the new nature. Paul describes that in Romans chapter 7.

Sometimes we take sides with the old nature and we sin. Thank the Lord for His word that says if we confess our sin He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So I would like to invite you, if you're physically able, to join with me now as we kneel in the presence of our Lord and Saviour, and examine our self.

Lord we are so thankful for Your graciousness and Your goodness to us. We thank you for Jesus paying the wages of our sin on Calvary's cross. We thank you for the presence of Your Holy Spirit in our lives, and Your patience, and Your gentleness in working within us. Lord this day we ask You to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's partake of the bread, and also the cup. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, and all God's people said, amen. Let's greet our neighbors this morning.