Daily Lesson for April 1, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 27 through 32:

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. 28Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For all who eat and drink* without discerning the body,* eat and drink judgement against themselves. 30For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.* 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined* so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Today is Maundy Thursday and this evening Christians around the world come to the table of the Lord.

This morning St. Paul gives the counsel that we are not to come to the table lightly, or cavalierly, or with a sense of entitlement. In fact, in the church he was writing too some of the rich folk were coming and eating all the food at the Lord's supper, drinking all the wine, and then going home and presumably passing out before a lot of the poor folk could even get off of work. They were also sleeping around with each other, or when they weren't they were suing each other. And you thought your church had problems!

So Paul's counsel here was to pause, to reflect, to -- in the words of Psalm -- "see if there be any wicked way inside" of them.

We may not have yet called a lawyer, but we've all been angry enough with someone at church to know longer want to call them brother or sister. And though we may not be sleeping around, there is lust enough inside all of us to destroy our families and our churches. And though we may not be getting drunk on the communion wine and bloated on the bread, we look at the rest of our lives and can see how we live entitled, taking too much while others have too little.

Paul says we are to examine ourselves. We are not to come to the table lightly. We are to reflect and confess and come to the table humbly and with thanksgiving.

I once pastored a church founded in 1830. In the old days, the people would gather on Friday nights before the Lord's Supper on Sunday. They came to reflect, and confess, and to get right with the Lord and with each other.

Now I'm not much of a fan of Friday night church, and I know my family would balk at the idea. But I tell you, I think maybe those folks were on to something. For the supper is a gift to be received, and not something to be taken for granted.

We come to the table tonight. Let us come reverently and with thanksgiving. Let us come gratefully, and not like we have any more right to be there than anybody else.

Someone said, "We're all just beggars showing other beggars where to find the bread."

I've found it; and I'm glad to share.

See you tonight at the Supper.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.