Coffeeville First Baptist Church By Craig Baker 4/3

By Marie | April 1, 2025 |

This past Sunday, my church observed a special service dedicated to the Lord’s Supper or communion as it is commonly referred to. While I realize that churches even within the same denomination will observe the Lord’s Supper in different ways, the practice holds great meaning for all Christians, so this week I want to take a break from our study of Revelation to consider what the Apostle Paul told the church in Corinth about observing the Lord’s Supper. Saturday, I drove my wife’s van to Oxford. It was the first time in a while I had driven her van any distance, and I was reminded of how easy it is for us to fall into a routine or habit of doing things. My car has a push button ignition, so as long as the key fob is inside the car, all you have to do is press the brake and push the button to start it. To start my wife’s van requires you put the key in the ignition and turn it. Well, I took her key, got in the van, and without thinking reached up to push the button to crank it only to realize the van has no push button. Not only that, but the controls for everything are completely different, so just to do something as simple as change the radio volume I really had to think for a moment to make sure I pushed the right button. It is not that way when I am driving my car. I am so familiar with it that I could probably work most of the controls with my eyes closed. If you have been driving your car for very long, you are probably that way with your car too. It is so familiar that you just go through the motions without ever really thinking about what you are doing. I think Sunday mornings can be like that for us too. Although every church conducts its worship services a bit differently and things may not go the same every Sunday, you pretty much know the order of service. You likely have a certain place where you sit. You have certain people you expect to see and interact with. You expect the music to go a certain way. You expect the pastor’s sermon be a certain length. You have a certain time when you expect the service to end. There is nothing wrong with all this. The Bible clearly states that God is not the author of confusion, and there should be an order to our worship services. However, if we are not careful it is easy for us to fall into a routine on Sunday mornings and just go through the motions of church without really thinking about what we are doing or why we are doing it. That can be especially true when it comes to observing the Lord’s Supper. 1 Corinthians 11 there is a lot we learn about the Lord’s Supper. Some people at the church in Corinth had started abusing the Lord’s Supper, turning it into a time of drunkenness and selfishness, so the Apostle Paul warns them and instructs them on the proper way to observe the Lord’s Supper by answering the two very simple but important questions of why and how. Why do we observe the Lord’s Supper? Quoting Jesus in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul reminded the church at Corinth that Jesus said do this in remembrance of Me, but what exactly are we remembering? For some the answer seems completely unnecessary. Why would we need to be reminded to remember Jesus? Is it really possible to forget Him? Can we forget His miraculous birth or baptism? What about His forty days of fasting in the desert before being tempted by Satan? What about all the miracles He performed such as turning water into wine, healing leprosy, restoring sight to the blind, turning a small boy’s lunch into a feast, walking on water, healing the lame, or raising the dead? Who could forget those miracles? How could we forget that night in the garden when He was arrested by the Romans and then abandoned by His friends and denied by Peter? How could we forget the crowd demanding He be put to death with shouts of, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” as He stood accused before the Roman Governor, Pilate? How could we forget His body beaten so badly that it would have been difficult to recognize Him or the crown of thorns pressed into His head? How could we forget the strain He endured carry His cross to His place of death? How could we forget the agony of the spikes being driven in His hands and feet, or the slow suffocation of hanging on the cross; the weight of His body making each breath more difficult than the last? How could we forget Him looking down on the crowd below and with the last bit of life left in Him crying out, “It is finished!”? We are a broken and helpless people; we have chosen sin over righteousness, rebellion over obedience, and blasphemy over worship. Sinful creatures could not be in the presence of a righteous and holy God. Therefore because of our desire to sin we were condemned to spend eternity in Hell separated from the God who loves us. How could we forget Jesus, who changed all that. God said, “The wages, the cost, of sin is death,” and Jesus said, “I will die for them. I will give my life so they can live.” We must never forget the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on that cross. As we take the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Having answered the questions of “Why,” the Apostle Paul then gave us instruction on how we are to observe the Lord’s Supper. I want you to imagine that you have been personally invited to spend a very private evening at dinner with the President and a few other very important world leaders. You have been asked to attend this dinner because they want to hear your ideas and opinions on some important issues. Regardless of your political views, this will be unlike anything most people could ever imagine experiencing, a real once in a lifetime opportunity. If you were invited to such a dinner, would you just throw on your old work clothes, catch a last-minute flight, and show up just as the food was being served? Absolutely not, you would prepare yourself for the occasion. What would you do? Would you buy expensive clothes, maybe learn some etiquette, make a list of things you want to discuss with them, arrive in town a day or two early, maybe learn something about each person who will be there? No matter what it may be, you would do something to prepare yourself for such an important occasion. Well, observing the Lord’s Supper is not a dinner with the President and world leaders, it is much better. You are invited to the table of the King of heaven and earth; Jesus Christ the One and Only Son of God. It is a great honor, privilege, and opportunity to commune with Him in a very special way, and Paul wanted to make sure the church in Corinth understood that. In preparation for taking the Lord’s Supper, the Apostle Paul warned the church to examine themselves (1 Cor. 11:27-29). To examine something is to inspect it in detail to determine its nature or condition. Before coming to the Lord’s table, we are to inspect our lives, our hearts and our minds in detail to determine our nature and condition before the Lord. However, this should not be something we do just a few minutes beforehand, we should be constant in examining our lives and being prepared to come before the Lord. That examination and preparation begins by asking ourselves, “Have I genuinely trusted Jesus as my Savior?” If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, then begin your examination by asking yourself, “Am I living in obedience to God’s Word? I need to let go of any sins such as anger, jealousy, lust, pride, resentment? Is God pleased with my life and what’s in my heart?”

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