Earlier in the passage, Paul wrote about how the richer members of the Corinthians congregation were showing up for the Lord's Supper with food and wine just for themselves. The poorer Corinthians due to circumstances were unable to bring anything for themselves. The end result was that the rich were getting drunk and feasting while the poor of the congregation stood around and went hungry. Paul called the whole congregation into account for not remembering the purpose of the Lord's Supper.
1 Corinthians 11:27-32The following two commentaries made different observations on 1st Corinthians 11:29. In this first quote, Gordon Fee pointed out that the Corinthians were not discerning the body: they forgot that the one loaf and one common cup indicated the unity of the body of Christ. Christ saved all of them through His death on the cross. Furthermore, they were gifted by the Holy Spirit to serve one another. Because they were members of a common body, they were members of one another.
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
Gordon D. FeeCharles Hodge in the following quote indicated the Corinthians were not taking seriously the elements of the Lord's Supper. This neglect was a problem. Paul claimed that the illnesses and deaths in their congregation could be attributed to God's judgment in this area. Hodge reflected that although, we need to be serious, we need not be fearful. True joy in celebrating communion does not abide in levity or comedy in the service, but in celebrating the Lord of the Universe who has already shown His love to us through His death and resurrection.
The Lord’s Supper is not just any meal; it is the meal, in which at a common table with one loaf and a common cup they proclaimed that through the death of Christ they were one body, the body of Christ; and therefore they are not just any group of sociologically diverse people who could keep those differences intact at this table. Here they most “discern/recognize as distinct” the one body of Christ, of which they all are parts and in which they all are gifts to one another. To fail to discern the body in this way, by abusing those of lesser sociological status, is to incur God’s judgment. (Fee, p. 564)
Charles HodgeHow do we prepare our hearts for communion so that we might properly discern the body of Christ? I am reminded of an incident at church several years ago. After I served communion, I was taking the trays of grape juice and bread back to the kitchen. A woman ran up to me and said that she did not know about communion and she was late to church. She wanted to know if it was permissible for her to take the bread and the grape juice immediately while I stood in the hallway. I let her to do it. She chewed and swallowed a wafer, slammed down a mini-shot glass of grape juice, thanked me, and hurried off.
In either case the offence is the same. The ground of the condemnation incurred is, regarding and treating the elements in the Lord’s Supper as though there was nothing to distinguish them from ordinary bread and wine. Here, as before, it is the careless and profane who are warned. There is, therefore, nothing in these passages which should surround the Lord’s Table with gloom. We are not called unto the mount covered with clouds and darkness, from which issue the signs of wrath, but unto Mount Zion, to the abode of mercy and grace, where all is love—the dying of him who never breaks the bruised reed. (p. 233, 1 & 2 Corinthians (Geneva Series of Commentaries)).
I am not criticizing my sister-in-Christ. I understood her desire. She wanted to obey Christ through celebrating His sacrifice through communion; however, she was pressured by circumstance to celebrate the Lord's Supper in a less than ideal situation. In my opinion, she did not celebrate communion in an unworthy manner, but she would probably agree that if she had time to prepare for communion, she would have partaken in the Lord's Supper in a more worthy manner. We all need to ask ourselves how we can make our celebration of communion more worthy and more worshipful.
J. I. Packer in his book on the Puritans encouraged us to learn from our spiritual forbears how to worship more efficaciously. The Puritans prepared for Sunday morning worship like a football team prepares for the next game: they prepared strategically with much effort.
J. I. PackerIn conclusion, I realize most of us do not have large amounts of time to follow the Puritan example. However, this is an encouragement to spend more time and effort preparing ourselves to take communion in a more worthy manner, or at least make the Sunday morning service more worshipful. How do we do this? We follow Paul's admonition: we discern Christ's body. This means both Christ's physical body and the Church, which is the body of Christ. Here are some suggestions.
Here, perhaps, is our own chief weakness. The Puritans inculcated specific preparation for worship--not merely for the Lord's Supper, but for all services--as a regular part of the Christian's inner discipline of prayer and communion with God. Says the Westminster Directory: 'When the congregation is to meet for public worship, the people (having before prepare their hearts thereunto) ought all to come....' But we neglect to prepare our hearts; for, as the Puritans would have been the first to tell us, thirty seconds of private prayer upon taking our seat in the church building is not time enough in which to do it. It is here that we need to take ourselves in hand. What we need at the present time to deepen our worship is not new liturgical forms or formulae, nor new hymns or tunes, but more preparatory 'heart-work' before we use the old ones. There is nothing wrong with new hymns, tunes, and worship styles--there may be very good reasons for them--but without 'heart-work' they will not make our worship more fruitful and God-honouring; they will only strengthen the syndrome that C. S. Lewis called 'the liturgical fidgets'. 'Heart-work' must have priority or spiritually our worship will get nowhere. So I close with an admonition from George Swinnock on preparation for the service fo the Lord's Day, which for all its seeming quaintness is, I think, a word in season for very many of us:
Prepare to meet thy God, O Christian! Betake thyself to thy chamber on the Saturday night, confess and bewail thine unfaithfulness under the ordinances of God; ashamed and condemn thyself for thy sins, entreat God to prepare they heart for, and assist it in, thy religious performances; spend some time in consideration of the infinite majesty, holiness, jealously, and goodness, of that God, with whom thouart to have to do in sacred duties; ponder the weight and importance of his holy ordinances...; meditate on the shortness of the time thou hast to enjoy Sabbaths in; and continue musing...till the fire burneth; thou canst not think the good thou mayest gain by such forethoughts, how pleasant and profitable a Lord's day would be to thee after such a preparation. The oven of thine heart thus baked in, as it were overnight, would be easily heated the next morning; the fire so well raked up when thou wentest to bed, would be the sooner kindled when thou shouldst rise. If thou wouldst thus leave thy heart with God on the Saturday night, thou shouldst find it with him in the Lord's Day morning. (pp. 256-257, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life)
- Discern the body by spending a few minutes in prayer thanking God for sending Christ to die for you. Confess sins. Spend time in time in the Psalms worshiping the Creator.
- If you don't have time, maybe you can discern the body by helping your spouse to have time before church to spend time in prayer. Put your spouse's needs first.
- Discern the body by preparing your children for Church by leading them in prayer.
- Discern the body by serving other during the Church service. Volunteer to usher or serve coffee or help out with the children ministries. Putting other people's needs first is exactly what Paul is writing about in 1st Corinthians.
- Discern the body by welcoming someone you do not know at the service. You can call your friends at home later, spend the time at Church practicing hospitality with strangers.
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