The meal that heals ( PDFDrive )

Chapter 5
THE MEAL THAT KILLS
“Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it.
And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou
doest, do quickly.”
John 13:26-27
There is a warning penned in the Scriptures to those who would carelessly
partake of the Lord’s Supper. Here is the warning Paul gave to the church at
Corinth:
“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lords
death till he come. 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, eatest and drinketh damnation to
himself not discerning the Lord body. For this cause many are weak and sickly
among you, and many sleep.”
1 Corinthians 11:26-30
W. E. Vines, in his expository dictionary of New Testament Greek words,
notes that the word unworthily means “treating it as a common meal, the bread
and cup as common things, not apprehending their solemn symbolic import.”
The very meal that should have brought healing, unity, and restoration to the
individual had instead brought judgment to those who did not discern it properly.
A person should never partake in the Communion service in an unsaved
condition or as a careless religious ritual. Before receiving Communion, we as
believers should examine ourselves inwardly to determine it we have sinned
against God or against our fellow man. We are to search and repent to God and
man for any hidden sin or act of disobedience. In this manner, we keep our spirit
and soul pure.
There is a threefold purpose for this self-examination:
1. to make sure we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5)
2. to make sure there is no hidden sin in our heart (Hebrews 12:1)
3. to make sure we are in proper relationship with the family of God (1
John 3:23-24)