Communion: Remembering Christ with Reverence and Self-Examination

You know, for us today, I doubt any of us are getting drunk on wine or being a glutton with food in regards to communion. So what does our lack of reverence look like today? What kind of form does that take? And I think it could be just a simple act of going through the motions when it comes to communion. We just take it. There's real no connection to it. There's no real true effort to remember what it means, it just becomes something nice that we do, maybe once a month, and our minds and our hearts aren't truly connected to it. It's really a hollow act. [00:32:33] (31 seconds)  #MeaningfulCommunion

So what does it mean to take communion in an unworthy manner? What does that look like for us? Well, going back to the church of Corinth, if we look at it in this context, we can tell what unworthy is. Right? It's getting drunk. It's hoarding food for yourselves. It's share not sharing food with those in need, but just keeping it for yourself. It's behaving in a way where it's just about you and your clicks and causing division. [00:29:02] (20 seconds)  #UnworthyCommunion

And by causing divisions, they were actually denying one of the very things that communion communicates, which is our common need for the sacrifice of Christ, and our common need for God's salvation for each and every one of us. So rather than proclaiming Christ's sacrificial death on behalf of all, this move was really reinforcing social divisions among believers. And these divisions, they were so damaging, and they were so untrue because this was in direct opposition to what was supposed to be the gospel. [00:19:38] (29 seconds)  #CommunionUnites

And this gospel declares that we are all in desperate need of salvation, that we all receive it the same way. No matter how much money we have, social class, life stage, it unifies us all together. But here, Paul is telling the church, hey, when you guys come together, it's for the worse. You guys are better off apart than you are together. And for me, it's hard to think of a more damaging testimony to the world that the church is actually worse when it's together than when it's apart. [00:20:07] (30 seconds)  #ChurchWitnessMatters

And it's with that thought that there might be many things in our life that have become obstacles that we need to see clearly. So for instance, it could be a broken relationship in our life that we need to take steps to repair. So we have to ask God to come into our hearts and work that out. And then at that point, we need to go to our brother and sister and make amends. It could be a reoccurring sin that we're struggling with that we have to ask forgiveness for, and we need to turn away from, but we need Christ's help to do that. [00:37:38] (26 seconds)  #ReconcileAndRepent

But again, taking communion brings us to a time of self examination for those who don't know Christ and for those that do. And for those that do, it's a time to remember Christ's sacrifice on the cross. And we remember the reason he was on that cross was due to the sins and the mistake that each and every one of us have made, and it's a perfect time to invite Christ to examine our hearts. [00:36:56] (20 seconds)  #CommunionSelfExamination

But what he is saying is that community is for those who have given their hearts and given their lives over to Christ, because now we are connected to the cross. We are connected to the sacrifice that Christ Christ made for us. And if a person has no union with Christ in that way, the act of taking communion has no real significance. A person who has not been spiritually made new has no means by which to commune or communicate with Christ because the holy spirit isn't dwelling in them. [00:34:42] (27 seconds)  #UnionWithChrist

And your final point is this, remembering Jesus' death through communion is to be done with reverence and self examination. That's because if reverence comes from our heart, then taking time for self examination might reveal the areas that are complicating complicating this. This. The practice of self examination is such an important one. And I think what Christ is saying, he's not saying that we need to be sinless before we take communion, because if that was true, then none of us would be worthy to take it. [00:34:15] (28 seconds)  #ReverenceNotPerfection

With our behaviors, with our testimony, are we drawing people to Christ and the unifying truth of the gospel, or are we repelling people from the church just like the church in Corinth was? Well, at this point in the chapter, Paul wants to rebuke the church, and now he kinda wants to bring them together. And he wants to reinforce, this is what you're doing, but this is what communion is all about. [00:21:23] (20 seconds)  #LiveTheGospel

And this isn't exclusive to just communion, but this act of reverence sometimes can carry over into our prayer life, into how we serve, into how we read the bible. And the danger is that the act these actions no longer are ways we connect to Christ, but now they they don't come out of our love for him, but they really become just routine. Maybe something we just check a box off at the end of the day that we did it. [00:33:03] (20 seconds)  #WorshipNotRoutine

That's because the church was meant to reflect Christ and be a light in the world. They were to show love and grace and mercy, and they were being inclusive no matter the gender, the race, or the life stage, and care for those people in need. And when this was lived out, this was to be a model to the world and to society. That they would see this and be like, wow, that's that's different. That's not like everything else. [00:20:38] (25 seconds)  #ChurchAsLight

That's something that I might wanna be a part of. A God that can change people in that way is a God I wanna get to know. I wanna know more about them. And I think the truth of that is true then, and I think it's true today. And so the question I have today is what kind of example is the capital c church setting today? What kind of example is South Bay Community Church setting? [00:21:02] (21 seconds)  #WhatIsOurWitness

And with that same thought of self examination, I would encourage those who haven't entered into a relationship with Christ to think about where do you stand with Jesus today. Honestly, what does that look like? For some, the reality is it just might take more time to understand. You might still have some doubts, and I I wish you that's okay. It's a process. But we can walk with you in that process, and we can encourage you. [00:35:41] (23 seconds)  #WhereDoYouStand

So they're not participants in his forgiveness, and they're not participants in his salvation for us. But the beauty is it doesn't have to stay that way. These verses share that the church taking communion is actually a powerful way to share who Christ is for those that don't know him. [00:35:09] (15 seconds)  #CommunionAsWitness

But I think in all of this, we get a sense that this church in Corinth, that they lacked a reverence for communion. And by extension, they lacked a reverence for God himself. Now reverence in the bible, it's a profound thing. It's a heartfelt respect. It's an awe. It's an honor for God. And oftentimes, it's described as the fear of the Lord. [00:29:22] (20 seconds)  #ReverenceForGod

And I think, know, on one hand, it's very true that Jesus loves us. He cares for us. He calls us friend, and he doesn't want us to live in fear, this level of fear where it negatively impacts our relationship with him. But on the other hand, he also requires a healthy level of fear and respect that should come from the God of this universe. [00:29:43] (21 seconds)  #LoveAndReverence

And I believe that reverence, that's a place where joy and respect really come together, and I can see that in my relationship with my dad. But I know for many of you, maybe it wasn't a parental figure who served that role for you. Maybe it was a grandparent. Maybe it was a teacher, or a coach, or a boss, or a mentor. But ultimately, you had a genuine relationship with them. But in their authority over you, you also had love. [00:31:48] (25 seconds)  #HealthyAuthority

You had respect. You had reverence. So to an even greater degree, how much more reverence should we have for Jesus Christ, for the God of this universe? We should have a reverence for him. And your next point is this remembering Jesus' death through communion is to be done with reverence. [00:32:13] (19 seconds)  #RememberWithReverence

Because the truth is reverence for God, it takes space, it takes intentionality, it doesn't just happen. But Paul connects us to something that is a critical practice that can help us live out reference in communion. So let's go back to the passage. Let's reread verse 28. [00:33:48] (19 seconds)  #IntentionalReverence

And I think this is the type of remembrance that Paul is asking for from the church of Corinth as they take communion, and this is the type of remembrance that he's asking from us today. You know, once Paul shared the manner and the way that we are to remember communion, I think he wanted to give us a few important reminders of how we are to take it. It was relevant then, it's relevant for us now. [00:27:44] (21 seconds)  #CommunionGuidelines