Examine, Remember, and Wait: Communion as Community Discipline

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Scripture • World English Bible

1 Corinthians 11:27–34

WEB

²⁷Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a way 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.

²⁹For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy way eats and drinks judgment to himself if he doesn’t discern the Lord’s body.

³⁰For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.

³¹For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged.

³²But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

³³Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

³⁴But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest your coming together be for judgment. The rest I will set in order whenever I come.

World English Bible (WEB) • Public Domain

Reflection

When Paul writes about the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:27–34, he is addressing a serious problem: the Corinthians were treating a sacred meal as if it were an ordinary social gathering. Some were eating selfishly, others were ignoring those in need, and the whole practice was being stripped of its meaning. Paul’s remedy is not mere ritualism; it’s a call to both inward honesty and outward love.

Self-examination, as Paul urges, is not a morbid turning inward to discover faults for shame’s sake. It is a sober, Spirit-led looking at our hearts so we can discern what we are celebrating. The Lord’s Supper points us to Christ’s body broken and blood shed. To discern the Lord’s body is to see the cross, to recognize our need of grace, and to acknowledge that we belong to one another in Christ. When we come to the table without that recognition—when we ignore repentance and fail to see others as brothers and sisters—we open ourselves to judgment, not because God delights in punishment, but because unrepentant hardness leads away from life.

Paul also reminds the community to wait for one another and to consider practical care. If the meal becomes a place of division or neglect, the gathering meant to strengthen the body of Christ instead reveals and amplifies sin. The remedy Paul gives is simple and pastoral: examine your heart, confess and turn, and show consideration for others when you come together. If someone is hungry or absent because of neglect, let hospitality and care be part of your practice outside the gathered meal.

There is hope in Paul’s words. Discipline from the Lord has a purpose: restoration. God’s corrective work aims to keep us from condemnation with the world and to form us into a people who reflect Jesus. Communion is a means of grace—a moment to remember Christ’s sacrifice, to receive his forgiveness, and to renew our commitment to live in loving relationship with one another. Approaching the table with humility and compassion transforms it from a simple ritual into a renewal of covenantal life.

Practically, approaching the Lord’s Supper with reverence means preparing our hearts, confessing what separates us from God and neighbor, and intentionally looking out for the vulnerable in our assemblies. It also means cultivating the habits that make self-examination natural: regular confession, corporate accountability, and teaching about the meaning of the meal so that all understand why we gather. When we combine honest inward examination with outward consideration, the Lord’s Supper becomes what it was meant to be: a sacred act that nourishes both our souls and our shared life in Christ.

Putting Faith Into Action

Before you take the Lord’s Supper, pause and practice a brief confession: name one thing you need God’s forgiveness for and ask for the strength to live differently.
When your church gathers, look around: is someone excluded, hungry, or marginalized? Offer to wait, share, or bring a meal so the assembly truly builds up the body.
Start a weekly habit of self-examination: use five minutes to ask God to reveal attitudes or actions that need changing, then record one small, concrete step toward repentance or restoration.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you for your body broken and your blood shed for us. Give us humble hearts that discern your sacrifice and compassionate eyes that see our brothers and sisters. Forgive us where we have been indifferent or proud. Teach us to examine ourselves, to confess, and to act in love so your table may nourish and heal your people. Amen.

Memory Verse

1 Corinthians 11:28 — But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (WEB)

“But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

Keep Going Continue to Part 36 Gifts for the Common Good: One Spirit, Many Ministries 1 Corinthians · 1 Corinthians 12:1–11 Read the next devotional →

Bible Context

Read all of 1 Corinthians 11

1 Corinthians 11

World English Bible • WEB

¹Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

²Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.

³But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

⁴Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.

⁵But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved.

⁶For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered.

⁷For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.

⁸For man is not from woman, but woman from man;

⁹for man wasn’t created for the woman, but woman for the man.

¹⁰For this cause the woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.

¹¹Nevertheless, neither is the woman independent of the man, nor the man independent of the woman, in the Lord.

¹²For as woman came from man, so a man also comes through a woman; but all things are from God.

¹³Judge for yourselves. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to God unveiled?

¹⁴Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?

¹⁵But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering.

¹⁶But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither do God’s assemblies.

¹⁷But in giving you this command I don’t praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.

¹⁸For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it.

¹⁹For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be revealed among you.

²⁰When therefore you assemble yourselves together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.

²¹For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken.

²²What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly and put them to shame who don’t have enough? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don’t praise you.

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.

²⁴When 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.