"A Worthy Manner" October 13 Readings: 1 Corinthians 11:2-34

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2024

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New. 

Bible Readings: 1 Corinthians 11:2-34

Background:  

Paul deals with two topics in this passage, the first is one of the more confusing passages in Paul's writings. He gives instructions about men and women and hair length and head coverings, and after carefully studying this passage several times I still do not know exactly what is being said. What is clear is that Paul wants men to be men and women to be women and that while men and women share essential equality we are not made to be the same.

The passage on the Lord's Supper is awesome and awful. Evidently, the Corinthians were allowing their human divisions to govern the way they observed communion. The rich came early, sat in the inner room, and shared the good meal, even getting drunk, while the poorer folks were relegated to the outer courtyards, given the lesser food and drink, and treated like second-class members of the body.

Jesus died for ONE body and to observe the supper in a way that separates the Body and causes schism is an offense to the cross and the Savior who died there.

Daily Devotional: A Worthy Manner

There is one very important word in the passage on the Lord's Supper, verses 17-34, a single word that changes everything. Verse 27 gives this warning:

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

Imagine a small change to that verse. It says that we must observe the supper in a "worthy manner" (well, not in an unworthy manner - same thing). Imagine that the word "manner" was missing and it just said that we had to be worthy to receive the supper. I'd be in trouble, how about you? Go ahead, you can admit it. You would never be worthy of God's grace and neither would I. 

We don't have to be. We do not have to be worthy of the supper, but simply have to observe it in a worthy manner. What is that? It has nothing to do with how the supper is served or any words we intone or any such logistical or liturgical matters. It has to do with our hearts. 

There are two things we must do to honor Christ and celebrate the supper the right way, in a worthy manner. First, we must remember the death of Christ and honor the meaning of the cross. We must be reflective, worshipful, both introspective and celebratory as we think about the fact that Christ bore our sins in his body and washed them away in his blood. But this is the part we sometimes forget. Christ did not simply die for millions of individuals but for ONE BODY, the church. He didn't just die for me, he died for us. If I celebrate the Lord's Supper as simply a time for personal worship and introspection without giving proper thought to the Body of Christ, I've not celebrated the work of Christ properly. 

We must consider both the work of Christ at the cross for our sins and his work for us, the Body. We must give thought to Christ and to his church. 

Father, I thank you for your Son's sacrificial work on the cross and for the Body he purchased with that death. May I give proper regard to both. 

Consider God's Word:

Do you live daily and especially do you celebrate the Lord's Supper with proper regard to both the work of Christ for YOU and the work of Christ for the church, his Body?