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Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
1 Corinthians 11:24
‘This do’
Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-34
It causes me great concern to see so many who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ absenting themselves from the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper and neglecting this commandment of Christ. The Lord’s Supper is an important part of worship, essential to the spiritual well-being of God’s church. The apostle Paul said, ‘As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.'
The purpose of observing the Lord’s Supper is that we might symbolically show forth the death of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ instituted this ordinance just before his death on the cross. The bread and wine symbolically represent the sufferings and death of our Redeemer in our place. The broken bread symbolizes his immaculate body, crushed under the wrath of God beneath the load of our sins. The wine poured out symbolizes his blood, poured out in death, by which our sin was put away. Breaking the bread and drinking the wine, we are reminded of our need of Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice to put away sin and we are reminded of God’s great love in sacrificing his Son to redeem us.
This is an ordinance which every true believer should observe. Regrettably, many of God’s children have been taught to fear coming to the Lord’s Supper. They think they are showing reverence for the ordinance by not receiving it. They do not. Our worthiness to take the bread and wine is not in ourselves, but in Christ. We come not with perfection, but with faith. By eating the bread and drinking the wine, we show our confidence in Christ’s finished work to make us accepted in the sight of God. No unbeliever is worthy to receive this ordinance, but no believer is unworthy.
The Lord’s Supper is to be observed often. A friend recently told me that in his church they had observed the Lord’s Supper only once in twelve years! That is utterly inexcusable. We need to be frequently reminded of our Lord’s love for us and of the price by which he redeemed us.
