"He That Eateth And
Drinketh Unworthily"
I Cor.
No one is personally worthy to receive the Lord's Supper, or any
other ordinance of the gospel. Our only worthiness to approach the holy God is
the imputed righteousness of Christ. In him we are worthy to worhsip God. Apart
from him we are unworthy. That much we under- stand.But what is it to eat and
drink the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper unworthily? UNWORTHY PEOPLE eat
and drink unworthily. The Lord's Supper is for believers only. It is not to be
received by unbelievers. Unbe- lievers are not capable of discerning the Lord's
body. They do not understand the necessity of Christ's incar- nation,
obedience, and death as the sinners' Substitute, or the nature of his work as
the God-man. To eat and drink unworthily is to observe this blessed ordinance
of the gospel for an UNWORTHY PURPOSE.Many look upon the Lord's Supper as a
sacrament,by which grace is obtained, by which men and women win God's favor
and do penance for their sins. Surely no sane person could believe such
nonsense, were he not mentally stupified by false reli- gion! Eating a piece of
bread and drinking a cup of wine will not cause God to look favorably upon
anyone! Even God's own people must also be careful not to observe this gospel
ordinance unworthily. Paul does not warn us not to observe the ordinance.We are commanded to observe it! But he does warn us not to
observe it unworthily.The Lord's Supper is received unworthily when it is
observed in an UNWORTHY MANNER. And it is observed in an unworthy manner when
it is observed IRREVERENTLY. Every time we come to the Table we should take
care to keep the ordi- nance with the elements prescribed by its symbolism
(unleavened bread and wine!),and we must do so in remem- brance of our Savior.
Let us never observe the Lord's Supper without carefully,lovingly,
and reverently remem- bering who Christ is, what he did for us, and why he did
it.And we observe the ordinance unworthily when we do so WITH MALICE IN OUR
HEARTS TOWARD ONE ANOTHER. Any malice,ill-will,or
hardness toward any brother or sister in Christ is to be put away before we eat
the bread and drink the wine. We cannot properly observe this ordinance if we
do not discern the unity of the Lord's spiritual body, the church (Read I Cor.
Don Fortner