Partake of the Holy Communion and score well.

Yesterday, I watched highlights of the COSAFA Cup football match between Zimbabwe and Lesotho. Ordinarily wouldn't watch that but SuperSport had just aired highlights of our match with the Czechs and then England; the reminder of our losses combined with the TV remote being one metre away from my comfy spot made me keep on watching something that I wasn't interested in...

Anyway, the Zimbabwe-Lesotho match ended in a penalty shoot-out which finished in very odd circumstances. One of the players from Lesotho acted like he was about to kick the ball, but he didn't. The goalie saw the angle of his leg as he made the false start and dove to one side of the post. The Lesotho player then kicked the ball into an open goal post. The Mauritian referee disqualified the penalty kick and booked the player because of the manner in which he made his play.

This player who was qualified to play brought loss of victory and judgment of yellow card upon himself simply because of the manner in which he took his shot!

What on earth does this have to do with the Holy Communion? See I Corinthians 11-

26 "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body."

Many read this and and actively tell you that you can't partake of the Holy Communion if you have sinned but nothing could be further from the truth! "Unworthy" here is not referring to the person who is partaking. It is referring to the manner in which one partakes; just as it was the manner in which the Lesotho player took his penalty shot that made him lose his victory and got him the judgment of yellow card. His coach chose and called him to be a member of the football team, just as we who believe were chosen and called by God to be members of the body of Christ. We who believe all get to play. How we play is the issue.

Christ died for unworthy people, not people who can be righteous on their own. We who believe are all unworthy of ourselves. If being sinless was a criteria for partaking, no one would qualify to partake because "all have sinned." There is none righteous. Our right-standing before God is as a result of His gift of righteousness to us in Christ and not because we obeyed the law or confessed in order to be forgiven. Our forgiveness is a product of Christ's crucifixion according to Romans 4:25. See the MSG version of the often misunderstood I Corinthians 11-

27-28 “Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at His death. Is that the kind of “remembrance” you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.

29-32 If you give no thought (or worse, don’t care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you’re running the risk of serious consequences. That’s why so many of you even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave.”

Nothing here about acts of sin. The “That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup” in verse 28 refers to making sure that we eat and drink with reverence and understanding. The 'unworthily" refers to the manner of partaking - WITHOUT REGARD OR REVERENCE FOR THE LORD'S BODY AND HIS BLOOD - and not the sinlessness or worthiness of the partaker.

Christ's body was broken for us to make us whole. His blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. The one who is not partaking because he has sins in his life is saying that Christ did not die for his sins and denies himself life giving power of the Holy Communion. Those who partake because they think that have no sins and so are "worthy" also eat and drink judgment themselves as they also believe that all of their lifetime of sins have not been paid by Christ. This is why many who profess Christ "even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave.”

The Holy Communion is for imperfect people whose perfection is found in Christ, not people who see themselves as sinless by human effort (righteous by self aka self-righteousness.)

Consider James 2:10 which says “For whosoever shall keep the whole law yet stumble at one point, he is guilty of all.”

In trying to be without sin before partaking, the highly moral man who only lied about his location for a good reason is just as guilty as the rapist, thieving, child-molesting serial killer. Romans 3:10 says “…There is none righteous, no, not one;” Of ourselves, we have no righteousness to boast of. If getting our sin act together by ourselves was a prerequisite for partaking of Christ’s body and His blood, the very best of us would fail to qualify to partake every single time.

This is how we are made righteous in the sight of God: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19.

Partaking in an unworthy manner is not a matter of whether one sinned or not. It is the manner in which some believers partake that is unworthy: by "not discerning the Lord's body.” For example, not making a difference between His body that was broken for us (healing us of our sicknesses and pains) and His blood that was shed for us (by which all of our sins are forgiven and we are made righteous in Him;) In essence, by partaking without regard, acknowledgement or reverence for His body that was broken for us and His blood that was shed for us.

Many people eat and drink to "see if it will work." Some just eat and drink giving no thought to what Communion with Christ is all about as explained by Paul in 1 Corinthians 23–26. Others believe that they will fall sick if they partake with sin in their lives and so stay away and miss out on its life-giving power.

Each time we deny ourselves of this wonderful blessing because of some 'holy' individual that forces us to be sin-conscious, we put ourselves in the precarious position of those that Jesus spoke about in John 6:53 - those with no life in them- 53 "Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."

Believer in Christ, partake in our Lord's Supper often, discerning our Lord's body. Do it as often as you can. In church. With your believer friends. In the privacy of your kitchen. With your family. Alone. Everyday. Five times a day. As often as the Spirit enables you to! By yourself. Anytime the Spirit leads you to.

Are you sick? Are you trying hard to KICK a bad habit and score a goal of victory over it? Did you think about it just before the call to partake of Christ’s body and His blood? Partake, knowing that His finished work has made you completely whole, including your mind where bad thoughts are processed!

By God’s grace, don’t be robbed of this wonderful blessing of Holy Communion that our Saviour has blessed us with by those who say you have to be "sinless" or “worthy” before you partake. They are robbing you of the life-giving power of the Bread of Life. Partake as often as He gives you grace to!

Through Adam's disobedience, the world has been condemned to be sick, stressed, depressed, and unpeaceful; a downward spiral to death. Christ paid the price of our freedom from these things. Each time we deny ourselves of this wonderful blessing of Communion with Him because of some 'holy' individual that forces us to be sin-conscious, we put ourselves in the precarious position of those that Jesus spoke about in John 6:53 - those with no life in them- 53 "Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."

Believe Right and you will Live Right.