The Gospel in Twenty Questions (15 page)

Proclaiming the Lord’s death
ought to be an occasion of joy and celebration. Was there ever a better reason
to party than this? We who were enslaved by sin are now free. We who were dead
now live.

Yet for many,
communion is not a time of celebration. It’s a time of anxious introspection
and fear. This is partly because of what Paul says next:

So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of
the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and
blood of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 11:27)

My ten-year-old self panicked
because I thought I was about to take communion in an unworthy manner. I wasn’t
worthy because there was sin in my life. I knew this because my conscience was
pounding on me like Mike Tyson.

Jesus said,
“Eat and drink in remembrance of me,” but I was too busy remembering myself. I
was self-conscious instead of Christ-conscious.
If only I had had time to
make amends,
I thought.
If only I had cleansed myself before coming to
church.
This is the mindset of DIY religion.

It is the
nature of the flesh to try and fix things. We break it, we buy it. We sin, we
repent. “There, now all is mended. I don’t need God, I fixed it myself.” Beware
these fig leaves!

We are
sometimes told to examine ourselves for sin before we take communion, as though
our sins disqualified us from coming to the table. But Jesus died for sinners.
He died for the lost and the least, the damaged and the hurting. He died for
the worst of us and for those who fight on the way to church.

If you think
you need to clean yourself before coming to Jesus, you are living under a lie.
If you think the Lord’s table requires minimum standards of worthiness, you
have missed the cross. If you are tempted to hide like Adam whenever God
appears, you need to hear the good news of his grace.

DIY religion
says, “Here are some fig leaves of confession and repentance—get busy sewing.”
But grace says, “Come as you are and let the blood of Jesus deal with your sins
and guilty conscience.” DIY religion would have you run and hide. But grace
draws you to the table of grace to receive mercy and find grace in your hour of
need.

Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat
of the bread and drink from the cup. (1 Corinthians 11:28)

The word for examine means “to
test and by implication approve.”
[30]
Paul is not saying, “Better make sure you’re a real Christian. Better check and
see if there isn’t some disqualifying sin in you.” It doesn’t work like that.
In the old covenant, the high priest examined the sacrificial lamb, not the one
who brought it. In the new covenant, Christ is your Lamb without blemish or
defect (1 Peter 1:19). Examine
him
. See yourself as tested and approved
in
him
.

Communion is
not a time for sin examination but Jesus examination. The next time your
conscience tries to condemn you as unworthy, remind yourself that Christ died
for the unworthy. Tell yourself, “In Christ, I am righteous and holy. I am not
justified because of what I did, but because of what
he
did. On the
cross he did away with my sins once and for all, and through his precious blood
I have been eternally forgiven.”

Taking
communion in a worthy manner does not mean coming to the table dressed in your
best fig leaves. It is marveling at the cross with humble adoration. It’s saying,
“Thank you, Jesus, for dying so that I might live.”

The Corinthians did communion
so
badly that 2,000 years later, we’re still talking
about it. But what exactly were they doing wrong? They were eating like pigs,
getting drunk, and humiliating those too poor to bring food to share (see 1
Corinthians 11:21
–
22).

The
Corinthians were certainly disgraceful in their conduct, but were they “guilty
of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord,” as Paul suggests in verse
27? If so, this would be a serious charge, for the word
guilty
is
applied to the saints nowhere else in the Bible. In Christ, you have been
judged not guilty for all time.

Paul
is not condemning Christians. Nor is he accusing the saints in Corinth of being
guilty sinners. He is simply saying, “Communion is a big deal. We know this
because of what happens to those who reject Christ’s death.”

The
cross of Christ is the great divider of humanity. It’s not that Jesus separates
those he loves from those he hates, for he loves the whole world. But people separate
themselves by their response to his sacrificial love.

Jesus’
death offends some people. They don’t see the grace in it. To be guilty of the
body and blood is to hear the good news of the cross and dismiss it as
irrelevant. It’s saying, “I don’t need Jesus. His death means nothing to me.”

Were
the Corinthians saying this? No. No Christian ever would. Paul mentions it to
say this: because Christ’s death is a big deal, communion is a big deal. You
wouldn’t get drunk and act like a pig at Calvary
, so why do it at communion?

For those who eat and drink without discerning the
body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. (1 Corinthians 11:29)

The word for judgment in this
passage almost always means a negative judgment. The King James Bible
translates it as “drinking damnation.” In other words, to come to the Lord’s
table with a stubborn and unbelieving heart is bad. It’s voting against Christ.
It’s saying, “I don’t need grace.”

There are two
things you need to understand about this judgment verse. First, Paul is not
describing believers. As a Christian you may act like an unbeliever—the
Corinthians certainly did—but you are not defined by what you do. You are
defined by Jesus. By definition, a Christian can no more eat and drink judgment
on himself than he can blaspheme the Holy Spirit. It’s simply not possible.

Second, the
judgment Paul describes is self-inflicted. God is not reaching down from heaven
and smiting the scornful with the damnation stamp. They are damning themselves.

Think of
Judas, who knew Jesus as well as the other disciples, but unlike them, never
saw him as Lord. At the Last Supper Judas ate the bread and drank the cup, but
since his heart was full of unbelief these symbols meant nothing
to him. By closing his eyes to the truth of Christ and siding
with the blind Pharisees, Judas condemned himself. After several years of
witnessing the grace of God in action, the Last Supper was literally his final
opportunity to acknowledge Christ. He didn’t, and Jesus immediately pronounced
the woe that he had brought on his own head (see Luke 22:22).

Someone who
has never heard the gospel may yet receive it. But those who have heard and
hardened their hearts to the good news are guilty of the blood and body of
Jesus. By taking communion they remove any claim to ignorance. They can no longer
say, “I didn’t know Jesus died for me,” because they are eating and drinking in
commemoration of that very death.

To
partake of communion unworthily is to be unmoved by the death of God’s Son. It
is to remain ungrateful for the greatest act of love you will ever know.
Shutting your eyes to the love of Christ and following Judas out the door is
fatal. Although judgment day still awaits you, you have essentially brought
judgment on yourself ahead of schedule. This is what it means to drink judgment
on yourself. It’s saying, “I choose to stand with Judas and the Pharisees.” In
doing so you are standing with the condemned.

And this
leads us to a very important question.

“And now as we turn to the
communion table, I would like to invite all who love Jesus and call him ‘Lord’
to join with us in partaking of the elements. If you’re visiting with us today
and you don’t know Jesus, feel free to spend this time in quiet reflection.
Communion is something that Christians do to remember Jesus’ death.”

How I wish I
could take those words back! Could I not see the staggering ungraciousness of
my remarks? Was I blind to the unholy line I was drawing between Us (welcome to
take communion) and Them (not welcome)? Jesus died for all, but all were not
being invited to remember his death. Grace is inclusive, but as a young pastor
I made communion exclusive.

I was not
alone. Many churches have rules stipulating who can and cannot break bread.
Some say it’s inappropriate for unbelievers to participate and make a point of
“inviting” them not to do so. Since unbelievers don’t value the cross, the
thinking goes, they shouldn’t be allowed to drink judgment on themselves by
taking communion.

But don’t you
find it interesting that Paul, despite all his warnings about “drinking
judgment,” never says this? He never says, “Make sure unbelievers don’t take
communion.” Instead, he says a man ought to examine himself before taking
communion (1 Corinthians 11:28).

Since there
is a possibility of taking communion in an unworthy fashion (meaning with
unbelief in the finished work of
the cross), and
since by doing so we are effectively drinking damnation on ourselves (meaning
we are refusing the grace that saves us), an opportunity should be given for
self-examination. And
what is the proper way to examine ourselves?
Answer: in light of the cross.

We have
already seen that Christians who examine themselves do so
in Christ
. In
him you are as righteous and holy as he is. But what about an unbeliever? What
about those who have never given thanks for grace? This is their chance!
Communion is their opportunity to take a moment and consider all God has done
for them. Deny them communion and you deny their opportunity. You’re basically
saying, “Don’t respond to the gospel.”

Somehow
Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 11 have been twisted into a worthiness test for
communion. “Examine yourself before you eat and drink” is often interpreted as
“look inside for sin, and if there is any, don’t partake.” I know some churches
even go so far as to stipulate minimum standards of worthiness. They say you
must be a believer or a baptized believer or voting member of the church before
you can break bread.

It’s like
there’s this Christian caste system and at the bottom are the filthy, untouchable
sinners who definitely shouldn’t break bread because anyone who rejects Jesus
is obviously unworthy. That’s basically what I was saying in my church. By
telling visitors (they might be sinners—who let them in here?) that they were
“free” not to partake of communion, I was sending the message, “This is not for
you. You’re not good enough for Jesus.” I was implicitly judging them as
unworthy of the body and blood. Of course I didn’t think of it in such terms. I
thought I was honoring Jesus and protecting sinners from judgment. Slowly it
began to dawn on me that there was something odd about denying communion to
sinners. After all, didn’t Jesus die for sinners?

Paul is not
prescribing worthiness tests for communion. He is saying “Jesus’ death is a big
deal, so take a moment to reflect on it. If Jesus’ death means something to
you, then communion is a time to savor and celebrate. But if the significance
of his death is news to you, here’s your chance to process it. Here’s an
opportunity to repent and believe the good news.”

For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be
judged. (1 Corinthians 11:31, NKJV)

Everyone has their day of
judgment, but for the Christian, judgment day is in the past. The Christian has
looked into the mirror of the law or listened to the accusations of his own
conscience, judged himself wanting, and taken hold of the free grace that Jesus
provides. His judgment day is thus his salvation day. But for the one who refuses
grace and continues to stand on his own merits, judgment day remains in the
future. If he continues to scorn grace, his judgment day will be a day of
condemnation.

Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the
Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with
the world. (1 Corinthians 11:32)

The old world order of sin and
death has been condemned. It has no future. A new order based on grace and
forgiveness is springing up. Jesus stands astride the old and the new, rescuing
all who would abandon the sinking ship. Whoever takes his outreached hand is
not condemned, but whoever refuses him is doomed to go down (see John 3:18).

This isn’t
about signing up for church or getting the right answers on a belief exam. This
is about Jesus and what you will do with him. He has done it all. The gift has
been given. Our part is simply to take it by faith.

Should unbelievers be excluded
from communion? Paul would have found this question preposterous. It’s like
asking, “Should unbelievers be excluded from the gospel?” Communion is
proclaiming the Lord’s death. Since the cross is at the heart of the gospel,
every time we do communion we are proclaiming the good news.

Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give
thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we
break a participation in the body of Christ? (1 Corinthians 10:16)

Isn’t the whole point of the
gospel to get people to participate in the kingdom of God? Isn’t it about
inviting them in? So why are we shutting them out during communion?

“But Paul,
these sinners don’t believe in Jesus.” Neither did you once upon a time. But
someone showed you grace and you responded with gratitude. Denying communion is
denying grace. It’s something Jesus never did. Even Judas got communion.

In the old
covenant, sinners and the unclean were kept at a distance lest they contaminate
the righteous. But Jesus was a friend of sinners. He went into their houses and
broke bread with them. He met with thieves, adulterers, and murderers and
“contaminated” them with his righteousness. Sinners were radically changed by
his awesome grace.

By saying “Communion
is only for the worthy,” we have turned a new covenant blessing into an old
covenant curse and denied grace to those who need it most. Religion draws lines
between Us and Them, but grace tears down dividing walls. Nowhere in the Bible
will you find any hint of a suggestion that we should exclude people from
communion. This is a death-dealing tradition of self-righteous men.

I used to say
that communion was for Us but not for Them. In doing so I was acting contrary
to the Spirit of grace. But I repented. I changed my tune and began saying,
“All are welcome at the Lord’s table.” I then watched amazed as the Holy Spirit
began to reveal the love and grace of God to those who didn’t know him.