Communion Devotional Short

Today as the body of Christ, we are incredibly blessed to be able to come together to participate in the biblical ordinance of communion where we eat bread and drink the cup of fruit of the vine in remembrance of Jesus the Christ.

In the context of communion the broken bread represents His body, sacrificed for us, and the cup and the fruit of the vine, represents His blood, poured out for the forgiveness of sins, just as the blood of the animal sacrifices was used in the temple for forgiveness, but Jesus’ perfect sacrifice was only needed once for the forgiveness of sins, past, present and future for those that believe in him.

Those that believe should participate in this table with joy and gratefulness, we are forgiven our sins! It's all too easy to grow comfortable, letting this practice become akin to a capri sun and bag of chips that kids expect at the end of a soccer game, just another snack with friends. I plead with you today to fight for joy in this experience. I say fight, because the evil one is going to work against you glorifying Jesus, your flesh is going to fail you in celebrating the Christ, and the world is going to persecute you for pursuing Him. You’ll have to continually fight to truly remember the importance, you’ll have to fight to be deeply grateful for the un-repayable work that Jesus has done for you. Just like He told the church is Sardis

Revelation 3:2–3 “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard.”

How do we remember? One way is through communion, which means sharing thoughts and feelings and being in fellowship. The word is composed of two parts, com, like in communication, community, common, which means together, and unus, which means unity, or oneness. It’s sometimes also referred to as the the eucharist, which comes from the Greek eucharisteo, meaning to give thanks, just like Jesus did at the last supper . This table represents fellowship with Christ, and fellowship with each other, it represents unity with Christ and unity with each other, it represents thankfulness for Christ and thankfulness for each other.

1 Corinthians 10:16–17 “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

This expression of unity is paired with a warning that you cannot participate in this table if you’re not a believer. As we are told a house divided cannot stand and that we cannot serve two masters. Either Jesus is our master and savior, or something else is first in your life, but participating in this table if you haven’t given your life as a servant of Jesus, provokes God to jealousy, and as we are told,

1 Corinthians 10:21–22 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?”

Hebrews 10:26–31 “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

If you don’t believe, we ask that you don’t participate until you’re ready to commit your life to Jesus. If you believe, but are struggling with deliberate sin, have something against your brother or sister, or have a conviction by the Holy Spirit, we ask that you refrain today and work toward getting right with God through repentance and reconciliation. If you believe, and have a clear conscious, this table is for you, as a remembrance of Jesus Christ and what he has done for you and the promise of his covenant. The single best promise in all of existence, that you get to spend eternity in the overwhelmingly glorious presence the almighty God through Jesus Christ, and that should be a cause for great joy.

Please spend a couple minutes after I pray ensuring that you’re right with God and then join us in fellowship at this table if you feel you’re ready.