As I examine the Mosaic Law in the Old Testament, I find frequent feasts or festivals. Many were outlined. At those times all work ceased. The Israelites were to do no “servile work.” These festivals were to remind them of their very significant relationship to God, their Redeemer.
The New Testament holds fewer festivals. In fact, we ordinarily consider only one, which we call the Lord’s Supper. In a real sense, this is not a festival but an observance. In chapter 27 I taught on I Corinthians 10:16-22 to help us understand the meaning of the Lord’s Table, that it is a family table. Christians repeat the observance of the Lord’s Supper on occasion. Some congregations observe it every Sunday. Some observe it on the first Sunday of the month. Some less frequently.
I affirm that the frequency is not as important as how the observance is conducted. To me personally, the Lord’s Supper is a sacred and solemn experience. In a very real sense, we enter the agony, as it were, of Jesus on the cross.
In I Corinthians 11:17-34, Paul instructs us about THE PROPER OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER:
17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthy, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
As I examine these verses, I find that Paul set forth several definite GUIDELINES we should follow for The Proper Observance of the Lord’s Supper.
The first guideline is:
