You Are Here

Turn with me to I Corinthians 11:23-34

YOU ARE HERE (A communion meditation.)

As we gather around the Lord’s table, we often do not consider its significance.

As you come to the table, you must remember that you are here for a purpose.

You Are Here to Remember Jesus (Vs 23-25)

Isaiah 53:4–8 NASB95

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

1 Peter 1:18–20 NKJV

knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

In the early church and later, the Lord’s Supper was called the “Eucharist,” taking its definition from the Greek verb eucharisto, which is the Greek verb that means “to thank.” Thus, one facet of the Lord’s Supper has been the gathering of the people of God to express their gratitude for what Christ accomplished in their behalf in His death.

R. C. Sproul

You Are Here to Preach His Death (Vs. 26)

The word “shew” means to proclaim.

Romans 5:6–8 NASB95

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Corinthians 15:3 NASB95

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

2 Corinthians 5:14–15 NASB95

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

1 Corinthians 15:54–57 NASB95

But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper in this world, we shouldn’t only look back to Christ’s past accomplishments, but to the future feast that is yet to be fulfilled.

R. C. Sproul

You Are Here to Examine Yourself (Vs. 27-34)

Isaiah 53:6 ESV

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

If you find yourself talking more about experiences, or gifts, than about him, you have already gone astray. The Spirit is given, and he does give gifts, yes, but they are all meant to lead us to bring glory to Christ in our esteem, in our talk, in our everything. The moment anything comes between us and the centrality of Christ, we have already gone astray. Spiritual Blessing, 171

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)

Mark 6:34 ESV

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

Sheep without a shepherd points to people who are in great danger and without the resources to escape from it.

Leon Lamb Morris

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

If the principle were not true that all sinned in Adam, it would be impossible to make the point that all can be made righteous in Christ.

John F. MacArthur

Romans 5:12 NKJV

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Truly, when the day of judgment comes, we shall not be examined as to what we have read, but what we have done, not how well we have spoken but how we have lived.

Thomas à Kempis (Ascetical Writer)