By Pastor Rick Warren

Today I want us to take a fresh look at the Lord’s Supper—because most believers never realize how deeply the Lord’s Table is connected to the Lord’s assignment. We often miss the connection between Christ’s communion and Christ’s commission. But when we look closer we can see that:

Our Communion fuels our Commission.
Our Worship empowers our Witness.
Christ’s Table is our Testimony.

Communion is not just a tradition we observe; it is something that shapes us, unites us, humbles us, and then sends us out. When we participate in communion, Scripture teaches that we actually do seven things, whether we realize it or not. Let me walk you through them.

 

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1. We re-examine our lives.

We look within.

Before we take the Lord’s Supper, the Bible says, “Let a person first examine himself.” We don’t rush into communion. God wants us to pause and reflect first.

This is a moment for quiet introspection, for looking at our lives, our motives, our attitudes, our habits, our thoughts. It’s a time to ask:

• • What’s right in my life?

• • What’s wrong?

• • What’s confused?

• • What’s missing in my relationship with God?

Scripture says, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.” And “Let us test ourselves and return to the Lord.”

Psalm 139:23–24 says: ” Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” I hope that will be your prayer too. 

I’m often motivated by what Jesus said to the Ephesian church. In the Letters to the Seven Churches, Jesus starts by complimenting Ephesus. He says this: “I know what you’re doing and I’m proud of you. I know your works. I know you stayed doctrinally sound. I know you have persevered through problems. I know you have endured persecution. I know all the good things you’re doing. But,” he says, “I’ve got one little thing I want to say to you: You don’t love me like you used to.”

Every time I read that, it’s like a knife in my heart. I’m forced to ask, “Lord, has there ever been a time in my life when I felt closer to Christ than I do right now?”

If I ask that question and the answer is yes, guess what? I need renewal. I need revival. I need revitalization. 

Has there ever been a time in your life that you felt closer to God than you do right now? If you say yes, then you need revival because you’re not as close to God as you once were. We’ve lost our first love.

In this first step of communion, we invite the Holy Spirit to search our hearts for anything that hinders our fellowship with Jesus.

 

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2. We repent of our sins.

We look back.

Before we take the bread and the juice, we are to repent. 1 Corinthians tells us this in chapter 11:27-28: “If anyone eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, then that person is guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord.” That is why we should examine ourselves. “For anyone who eats and drinks without honoring the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.” That’s a fearful text. If “anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup without honoring the body of the Lord, drinks judgment on themselves,” then I better figure out what it means to honor the body of the Lord!

Here’s what I believe it means: to honor the Lord, to honor Christ’s body, is to repent of my sins that put him on the cross. How do I honor the body of Christ as we take communion? By repenting of my sins. I don’t repent of your sins or anybody else’s; I repent of my sins that put him on the cross. If I don’t do that, I’m taking communion in an unworthy way. 

The Bible says if we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 28:13, and it says, “If you hide your sins, you will not prosper. But if you confess them and forsake them, you get a second chance.”

Aren’t you glad that we serve a God of the second chance, and the third chance, and the fourth, and the 20th? Friends, I don’t know about you, but I know what I am: I’m a trophy of grace. I don’t deserve to be saved, much less in ministry. 

You know what grace is? Grace is the fact that God knows every mistake I would make in ministry, and he still chose me. Grace is the fact God knows every dumb thing you’re going to do in your ministry, and he still chose you. That keeps us walking before the Lord humbly and with integrity.

 

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3. We remember Christ’s sacrifice.

We look at the cross.

Communion is about remembering. God commands us over a hundred times in Scripture to remember—remember his grace, his mercy, his faithfulness. Several times in Scripture, it tells us specifically to remember Christ’s sacrifice. In fact, that’s what communion’s all about. The Lord’s Supper is simply a memory tool. It is a memory tool. It helps us remember what Christ did for us nearly 2,000 years ago.

Why did he give us this? Because he died for us. If somebody died for you, wouldn’t you want to remember that? Somebody did die for you, and that’s why we want to remember it, and remember it often.

Only human beings, made in God’s image, can remember things that happened thousands of years ago. Animals can’t do that. But we can. And that’s why Jesus said, “Do this to remember Me.”

On the night He was betrayed, Jesus took bread and said:
“This is My body, which is for you.”
He took the cup and said:
“This is the new covenant in My blood.”

What exactly did Jesus do on the cross for you and me? Let’s look at two scriptures:

Colossians 2:14 says, “He canceled our debt, which listed all the rules that we failed to follow, and he took away that record with its rules, and he nailed it to the cross.” That’s what Jesus did. All of the rules that I couldn’t keep, he nailed them to the cross and canceled my debt.

1 Peter 2:24 says this: “Christ carried our guilt and the burden of all our sin in his body as he was nailed to the cross. He did this so we could stop living for sin and start living right, and through his wounds we are healed.” 

 

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4. We receive Christ’s forgiveness.

Here’s something you may never have thought about: What does Jesus actually do with your sins once you confess them?

The Bible says he puts them in three places:

Out of sight. 

Isaiah 38:17 says, “In your love, Lord, you rescued me back from destruction, and you have put all my sins behind your back.” If my sins are behind his back, why does he put them there? What can you see behind your back? I can’t see my back. He puts it behind his back because he can’t see it. It’s out of sight. 

Out of reach. 

In Micah 7:19, God says: “You will have compassion on us again, and you will overcome all our wrongdoings, and you throw away our sins into the deepest part of the ocean.” Not only is our sin out of sight, it’s out of reach. He takes my sins that have been forgiven, that have been paid for on the cross, and he throws them in the deepest part of the oceans.

By the way, he then puts up a “No Fishing” sign. You can’t pull your sins back out again, and say, “Now, Lord, about that sin…” It’s already in the deepest part of the ocean because when I confess my sins, they’re not only out of sight, they’re out of reach.

Out of mind. 

In Isaiah 43, God says, “I will wipe away your sins because of who I am, and I will forgive your sins, remembering them no more, forgetting your sins.” To me, that’s the most amazing thing. If I were to do something this evening and sin, and before I go to bed, get on my knees and confess it to the Lord, and have a heart attack in the middle of the night, wake up in heaven, and my first thought is “Now, Lord, about that sin…” He’d say, “What sin? What’s sin?” It’s out of sight. It’s out of reach. It’s out of his memory.

The fact that God can choose to forget is amazing grace. I don’t know about you, but I can’t forget my sins, even the ones that are forgiven. I still think, “Man, I wish I hadn’t done that.” But God forgives and he forgets. 

In communion, as you drink the cup, you can say in your mind, “Thank you, Christ. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for putting my sins out of sight, out of reach, and out of mind.”

 

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5. We recognize our unity in Christ’s body.

Communion is not just about our relationship with God—it’s about our relationship with each other.

That’s why it’s called communion. We are to be in communion together, recognizing our unity in Christ. 1 Corinthians 10 says this about the Lord’s Supper: “We give thanks for the cup of blessing in which we are sharing the blood of Christ, and the bread, which we break together, is sharing in the body of Christ.” 

When we take communion, we are saying we are one body because we all share one loaf.

Galatians 3 says, “You are all now children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and you were baptized into union with Christ, and you have been clothed with Christ, so now there is no Jew, nor Greek, nor slave, nor free, nor male, nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” 

Communion reminds us that we are united not by personality, race, nationality, background, or preference, but by the blood of Jesus. And that unity strengthens our witness to the world.

We’re all in the same body. We have different functions. We’re supposed to do different things, but the hand can’t say to the eye, “You don’t matter to me,” and the eye can’t say to the foot, “You don’t matter to me.” We all matter. We all matter in the body of Christ.

Friends, people in the world are looking for this. Every human being has an innate longing for belonging. Jesus says the place where that longing is met is his Church. 

You belong to me.
I belong to you.

We belong to each other in the body of Christ. 

Why don’t we act like that? We need to recognize our unity in Christ. If we would live the evangelical message that we believe, you’d have to lock the doors to keep people out of our churches.

 

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6. We recommit to Christ’s mission.

We look at the needs of the world.

Now we come to the part most people never associate with communion: mission.

But this is where communion naturally leads. Our Communion fuels our Commission. Our Worship empowers our Witness. Christ’s Table is our Testimony.

The same meal that draws us in now sends us out.

The message of communion has to be taken to the whole world. It’s to be public. 

If I had the cure for cancer, and I knew what would cure cancer, and I kept it a secret, that’d be criminal. If I had the cure for HIV/AIDS and I didn’t tell anybody, they should put me in prison for keeping it a secret.

It is selfish to know the greatest news and not share it. What is the Good News? That, because of the cross, my past can be forgiven. I have a purpose for living. I get a home in heaven. Where else are you going to find that? No one in the world can offer what Christ offers. That’s why we move from the fellowship of the table to the finishing of the task. We recommit to sharing what we’ve remembered.

Jesus said in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to everyone everywhere.” Communion prepares us to be sent out. 

Look at Mark 14:24-26, “Then Jesus said, ‘This is my body. This is my blood, which is poured out for you, and poured out for many. It is the new covenant. I will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until the day that I drink it in the kingdom of God.’”

After singing a hymn, what did they do? They went out. What are we to do after we finish communion? We’re to go out into the world. We’re going to go back out and take the Good News where people are hurting and dying.

Years ago, I heard the story of the famous Catholic bishop, Fulton Sheen. Fulton Sheen was on a mission tour visiting a leprosy colony. 

While there, he went over to talk to one man who was sitting on the ground with nothing on but a loincloth. This man just had a little towel wrapped around his waist, and his body was covered with open, oozing sores.

As Fulton Sheen leaned over to talk to this man who was covered with sores, the chain of the cross he was wearing on a chain broke, and the cross fell into one of those large open sores on the man’s thigh.

Fulton Sheen said, “When I first saw that, I was shocked and repulsed. I stepped back.” But he said, “Then, all of a sudden, I was overwhelmed with love for this man in pain.” He said, “I reached down, I reached into the sore, and I took up the cross.”

I heard that story over 50 years ago and it changed my life because I think that’s the finest definition of Christianity I’ve ever heard. The whole business of Christianity is going out into the sores of life, where people are hurting and bleeding and dying, and taking up the cross. If we’re not doing that, I doubt our Christianity.

The purpose of communion is to prepare us to send us out into the world. We are sent by the Son, we’re empowered by the Spirit, we’re united in mission.

 

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7. We reaffirm that Christ will return.

We look forward to the coming King.

Now we look forward. 

This is not the end of the story. 

When you get tired, when you get discouraged and you think things aren’t going as well in your ministry as they ought to, read the last chapter of Revelation. We know the end of the story: we win. 

It’s kind of like reading a novel. If you read the last chapter, you’re not nervous anymore because you know how it’s all going to end. I’ve read the last chapter, so I’m not worried about all that’s going on in the world. 

1 Corinthians 11:26 says: “For as often as you eat the bread and you drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again.” That’s looking forward. 

People say, “Why hasn’t Jesus come back yet?” He’s told us why he hasn’t come back yet.

In Peter, it tells us the Lord is not slow or slack concerning his promise. What’s the promise? That he’s coming back. It says he’s not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Why has Christ not come back yet? He wants a big family.

As you know, Matthew 24:14, Jesus said this: “This gospel shall be preached as a witness in the whole world, as a witness to every nation, and then the end shall come.” If we want Christ to come back soon, it’s really simple: Get out and start witnessing. 

 

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So what do we do now?

Having examined ourselves, repented of our sins, remembered his sacrifice, received his forgiveness, recognized our unity, recommitted to his mission, and reaffirmed his return…

we go out.

Just like the disciples did. Just like the early Church did.

Because:

Our Communion fuels our Commission.
Our Worship empowers our Witness.
Christ’s Table is our Testimony.

And we move from fellowship at his Table to finishing his task.

 

To learn more about sharing your hope with others, visit https://finishingthetask.com/believers/