“Worthy of Celebration”
Text: 1 Corinthians 11:23-29
4-2-2026
In the name of Him who gives us His body and blood to eat and drink, dear friends in Christ. Six weeks ago, we began this Lenten series of examining some classic hymns of the season. Back then I noted that very early in the Reformation, Martin Luther seized upon the idea of using hymns and congregational singing to help people learn and retain the essence of the Christian faith. Prior to his time, the people sitting in the pews just didn’t sing in church. And most of them couldn’t read. Luther sadly discovered as he traveled around Germany visiting the churches, that most lay people didn’t have a very good grasp of what the Christian faith was all about. Luther wanted people to know. That’s because it was necessary for their individual salvation, and beyond that, he knew that unless the average guy or gal sitting in the church had a solid grip on the essentials of the faith, they were susceptible to being led astray again. He didn’t want the precious truths of the Gospel, that he and others had fought so hard to restore to the church, to be lost again a generation or two later.
To help prevent that from happening he did several things. First, he pushed for widespread education of everyone—which was quite a radical concept in his day. Back then very few people had any schooling at all. Secondly, he wrote the Small Catechism, which most of you are familiar with. It was designed to be a short and easy to memorize overview of the most important parts of the Christian faith. The idea was that even if you couldn’t read, just by hearing the catechism taught several times, you could have it down pretty well. Then afterward, if you heard someone teaching something that didn’t square with what you had been taught, you’d know to reject it. And a third thing Luther did was to write hymns for people to sing. These hymns had a definite purpose. They weren’t designed to make people feel good or to showcase their singing talents or simply to fill up the space between parts of the worship service. They were designed to reinforce the truths of the Christian faith. They were, in a sense, meant to be the catechism set to music, so that people would know what they believed and why they believed it.
Following the pattern he established, many more Lutheran hymn writers emerged in the years that followed. In fact, the period of 1600 to 1750 has sometimes been called the golden age of Lutheran hymns. And it was the use of these hymns that simply told Bible stories or taught the truths of the catechism that gave the Lutheran church the nickname “the singing church.” Remember that during this same period, neither Roman Catholics nor other Protestants had yet introduced congregational singing to their services. So, when they called us the “singing church” they didn’t mean it as a compliment. Ah, but they eventually changed their minds about this, didn’t they? In any case, this evening’s hymn selection falls quite nicely into the classic Lutheran tradition. It is a very simple and straightforward meditation on the Lord’s Supper. Its lyrics proclaim exactly what we’re doing when we participate in the Supper and why we’re doing it. Kind of like the catechism.
The first three verses simply expound the basic truths of the Gospel; namely that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, suffered and died on the cross for our sins. After that, the answer to the first catechism question on the Lord’s Supper is given. It’s in verse four: “in this Supper we receive his very body as He said, His very blood for sinners shed.” To the catechism question of “What is the benefit of this eating and drinking?” the answer is given rather poetically in verse five. It explains how the assurance of forgiveness we receive through the Lord’s Supper is food for the soul that sustains us on our journey heavenward. Then verses six, seven, and eight give the answer to the catechism question: “Who receives this sacrament worthily?” So, all the answers are here and they’re very neatly laid out for us. That’s what makes this a fine Lutheran hymn.
However, it’s not without a couple potential problems. You see, sometimes words change their meaning and usage over time and what a writer meant to say isn’t what’s understood by people who read or sing his words many years later. For example, the word celebrate is used in the first verse. Today when we speak of celebrating something, we tend to think of a happy, upbeat, party-like atmosphere. And so, these days we celebrate birthdays and graduations and promotions, but we would never think about celebrating more serious or sober matters. On account of that, it sounds awfully strange to modern ears to say that we celebrate the death of Jesus Christ our Lord.
But it turns out that the English word celebrate has its roots in a Latin word that means “to fill up”. Long ago when people looked at the calendar, they wanted to know which days were the days of celebration, that is, when the church had some special observance going on, such as a high holy day like Christmas or Easter. Whatever the occasion was, you could bet that there would be a special church service that included the Lord’s Supper; and so, they would say that the day was filled – or celebrated – by the Mass. From there it was just a small step to extend the use of the word to mean the actual event of and participation in the Lord’s Supper. And so, it became popular to speak of celebrating the Lord’s Supper without any connotation of a party atmosphere. We still use the word that way today; even though it throws some people off a bit when we do. Anyway, that’s what the hymn means. Where it says “The death of Jesus Christ our Lord, we celebrate with one accord” it’s saying we are now participating together in the Lord’s Supper. By it, as St. Paul says, we show the Lord’s death until He comes. And we are doing it in “one accord,” that is, united in one common confession about what it is that we’re doing and why we’re doing it.
Okay, another pair of words that tend to trip people up a bit when we talk about the Lord’s Supper and which also appear in this hymn are worthy and unworthy. The way they are commonly used today, these words are charged with emotion. When we say someone is worthy of something we think in terms of their being good enough or deserving of the honor. Worthy is good. However, if someone is unworthy, it is assumed that they are morally unfit or undeserving. Unworthy is bad. So, when we speak of someone being worthy to take the Lord’s Supper, it sounds like we’re saying that they’re good enough. It’s like they’ve met some level of moral goodness that makes them qualified. And if we say someone is unworthy, it sounds like we’re saying that they’re just too sinful. They don’t get to have the Lord’s Supper because they’re not as good as us.
But that’s not what we mean at all. The Lord Jesus didn’t die for good people. He died for sinners, even the worst of them. That’s what the Lord’s Supper is all about: God giving us the gift of His Son – His body and blood offered up as the atoning sacrifice for sin – and giving Him specifically to those who are in every respect morally unworthy to receive any good thing from God’s hand. If anyone thinks he’s good enough to have the Lord’s Supper, he or she is most certainly unworthy.
So, what makes a person worthy to receive the Sacrament? It pretty much boils down to whether or not the person is “in one accord” with the Lord and the rest of the congregation in both his confession of sin and his understanding of what’s actually happening in the Sacrament. St. Paul lays down the criteria in the passage we heard earlier. First, he says, “Let a person examine himself.” That is, he needs to look at his life and behavior and ask, “Am I a sinner in need of God’s grace and forgiveness? Do I fear God’s righteous judgments against me? Do I repent of my sins? Do I need the strengthening of faith that God gives through this Sacrament to amend my life and help me to overcome temptation?” If your answers are “Yes”, you’re well on your way to being worthy to take the Lord’s Supper.
But you’re not there yet. St. Paul continues, “anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.” What he’s saying is that someone who participates in the Supper in unbelief or in ignorance or without repentance is sinning against the Lord and His own body and blood. That person is using the Lord’s body in an inappropriate way, in a way that denies Christ’s clear Word and purpose. That person is sinning against the Lord’s body, and is therefore, unworthy. So, a person who wants to know if he’s worthy to participate should ask, “Do I believe that in the Sacrament of the Altar the body and blood of Christ are truly being given to me? Do I believe that it’s not just a picture or symbolic; but that by the power of God’s Word the true body and blood of Christ are indeed mysteriously present in, with, and under the sacramental elements of bread and wine? And do I trust that by eating and drinking them, the Lord Jesus Christ is literally feeding me with Himself, and in this way assuring me of His forgiveness?” A person who answers “Yes” to those questions is worthy.
Concerns over who is or is not worthy to participate are the major reasons the Christian Church has long practiced Closed Communion. We limit participation to those who are able to examine themselves, who are not involved in known unrepentant sins, who do not stubbornly cling to false doctrines, and who share our confession of what Christ says this holy Sacrament is. If someone is found to be unworthy by those standards, we’re not saying that they’re more sinful than anyone else or that they’re not as good as us. What we’re saying is that we care enough about them to prevent them from sinning against the Lord and bringing judgment upon themselves by taking the Supper without being properly prepared.
Now, some people get upset or offended by that. In response, let me say these two things: First, if they’re upset or offended at being asked to refrain from Communing, it only shows that they really don’t understand the importance of being “in one accord” in the confession of the Christian faith with whom they would be taking the Supper, which makes them unworthy. Secondly, it needs to be said that we who know better should not allow their misunderstanding and/or anger over being denied Communion to cause us to lower our level of concern for them. You don’t let children play with matches because they might hurt themselves and do serious damage to the house. It doesn’t matter how much they want to play with the matches, or how much kicking and crying they do, or how they try to manipulate you by saying things like, “You don’t love me! You never let me do what I want!” The loving parent gives a firm and unwavering “no”. It’s the weak, unconcerned parent, or the one who foolishly denies that there’s any danger who gives in. Now, I’m not saying that people who don’t understand the Sacrament are children. What I’m saying is this: If you wouldn’t give a child matches to play with, how could you possibly give the Lord’s body to someone who you know will receive the Lord’s judgment by it? It doesn’t make sense.
Of course, our hope is that by taking the time to teach and explain our Lord’s Words and His institution of the Sacrament, those who do not understand, or who don’t believe, or who are unrepentant will become properly prepared and therefore worthy to commune. In this way we will be truly one with them in the common confession of Jesus Christ and His work of salvation. And we will be one with them as we receive the blessings and benefits of Jesus’ body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of sins when together we worthily celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
So that we might attain that goal and be properly prepared ourselves, let’s ask the Lord’s grace, and pray together the last verse of the hymn:
Help us sincerely to believe
That we may worthily receive
Your Supper and in You find rest.
Amen, they who believe are blest.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!