When rituals are not Right

 Read 1 Corinthians 11.

When the Apostle Paul planted the local church at Corinth, he taught them certain practices of the faith (v.2).  One of them was to celebrate what is now called the Lord's Supper, or Communion.  It is a reenactment of what Jesus did and said in the upper room on the night before His crucifixion.  Such a regular presentation should take us back to the high price that was paid for our sin on the cross.  "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." (Hebrews 9:22)  "...he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." (Hebrews 9:26b)

Evidently, the congregation maintained the event on the calendar but totally missed the reason why.  They practiced a ritual, went through the motions, and violated the very meaning of it all.  They indeed sinned against others by their behaviors and sinned against God by their lack of confession to Him.  Any Christian practice without a changed life becomes an empty, meaningless ritual of no value. 

The word communion speaks of community and unity.  The Corinthians were divided.  Those who were under-resourced left the service feeling humiliated (v.22).  As a result, some of the offenders experienced the immediate judgment of God when they became physically sick and some died (v.30).

What are we to do?
"Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup." (v.28)
The process begins with self-examination before the Lord.  Is there any sin I need to confess and make right with God?  Is there anything between me and another person that I need to make right?  In the context concerning giving, Jesus said "...if your brother has something against you....First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23-24)

What are we to be celebrating?
1. The past foundation of our faith.
"Do this in remembrance of me."  Take time to reflect and remember what Jesus did on the cross.  The unleavened bread represents the body of Jesus.  The cup represents His shed blood.  He paid a debt He did not owe.  We owed a debt we could not pay.  This is, perhaps, the most solemn and sobering practice of the Christian church.

2. The present proclamation of our faith.
"For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death..."
We not only look back, but we celebrate how our personal acceptance of that payment on the cross has changed our lives forever.  It is the good news of God.  As Paul explains in chapter 15, the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

3. The future glorification of our faith.
"...you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."  Jesus is coming back, just as He said.  It will be a visible, physical, powerful return to this earth.  He will put down His enemies and establish His earthly kingdom.  We will "reign with him for a thousand years" (Revelation 19:6).