Self examination

Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. – 1 Corinthians 11.27-32

The Table Service is a not a place to be taken lightly. It is serious stuff. A lot of our churches have relegated the Table to a rarely observed tack-on to the main service. People who attend the Table often just do it just because it is part of what we do.

Paul stresses the seriousness of the Table by talking about taking the Table in an unworthy matter. He says that those who take the Table need to careful not to do what he calls in an ‘unworthy manner.’ He says those who take the Table lightly are not considering the sacrifice that Jesus made. He says that those who do so are asking for asking for God’s chastening. Some have become sick for doing so and some have even died.

So the solution is given – let every man examine himself. Its not the time to worry about anyone else. We must take the time to examine our lives and see if there is broken fellowship or sin that we have not dealt with and seek forgiveness. I think the best way to do that is to pray like David did when he prayed ‘search me of God and know my heart, see if there is any evil way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.’

Our church observes the Table every Sunday morning before the main service. It is our chance, before our mutual worship, to make sure that things are right with God and each other. The gives great freedom as we seek in the servive to glorify God and edify each other.

I am truly grateful that Jesus gave us the Table service as the perfect way to keep our lives right with Him and right with each other.