Jeffrey C. Long

This is part 2 of a sermon I preached at Filer Mennonite Church on Sunday June 5th, 2005

I want to take a moment and study this subject of examining our life before taking the communion so that we can take it in good conscience and let it be the celebration it was intended to be.

Open your Bible to I Corinthians 11. We will be reading verses 23-28

23For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread. 24 When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.” 25In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a manner unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.

Let a man examine himself.

Scary business. If I look at my own life, I quickly would become convinced that I am indeed unworthy to go through any spiritual exercise.

Are we supposed to be sinless to take communion? This would be impossible. 1John 1:8 says If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us

How should we view ourselves as Christians who sin?

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Important to understand what changed when we became a follower of Jesus. Prior to following Jesus we were sinners. It was a part of our very nature to sin.

When we are saved, our nature is changed. We are justified by Jesus. Our sinful nature is changed. We still have the flesh battling against our spirit.

So, instead of being in nature sinners, we become in nature children of God who battle the flesh and sometimes lose giving in to sin.

It is important to keep this in mind because other wise we can wind up wallowing in a rehearsal of our unworthiness.

Three mistakes in understanding our sinfulness.

Self-loathing. “I’m a depraved sinner. There is nothing of worth in me.” There can be a certain pride in our humility. Which does an injustice to the work that Christ has done in us.



Pride “I may not be perfect, but I’m better then they are.”



Apathy. “I know I sin, but I can’t do anything about it, so I won’t try.”

Dignity. “I’m a child of God who still sins. I confess my sins to God and move on.”

So, when we examine ourselves in preparation of communion it is with the understanding that we are child of God who still sins. So we need to examine our lives, confess our sins, repent, take steps to walk away from sin and prepare to celebrate the abundant life we’ve been given by the sacrafice of Jesus on that tree.

Next we will look at four areas that we should examine our life before communion.