Considerations on Communion (2)
Considerations on Communion (2)
November 4, 2001 1Cor. 11:17-34
Scripture Reading: Responsive Reading # 647
Introduction:
Notice what Paul says to the Corinthian church now in this section about proper worship.
He comes right out and says that "your meetings do more harm than good" because of the divisions among them in regard to the communion proceedings.
He has no praise for them because they seem to have little regard for how they bring praise to God through communion.
Today, on this communion Sunday, we will be reminding ourselves on what considerations we should make as we approach God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ so that we ourselves will not come under condemnation.
Meaning of the word, ‘communion’:
2842 koinonia {koy-nohn-ee'-ah} from 2844; TDNT - 3:797,447; n f
AV - fellowship 12, communion 4, communication 1, distribution 1,
contribution 1, to communicate 1; 20
1) fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation,
intercourse
1a) the share which one has in anything, participation
1b) intercourse, fellowship, intimacy
1b1) the right hand as a sign and pledge of fellowship
(in fulfilling the apostolic office)
1c) a gift jointly contributed, a collection, a contribution,
as exhibiting an embodiment and proof of fellowship
AV:
1Co 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
2Co 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
2Co 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
NAS:
1Co 10:16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
2Co 6:14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
2Co 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
NIV:
1Co 10:16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
2Co 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
2Co 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Big Question:
What considerations should direct our approach to the Lord's Table?
I. Cycle One
A. Narrative (vv. 17-19)
B. Implication
The consideration of unity.
The fellowship of communion that Christ gave us together with him can cause more harm than good when done without him.
a. The damage caused by division.
b. The exposure caused by division.
Paul laments that if some have deviated so far from the intention of the ceremony, then the divisions will at least magnify the authenticity of those who have remained faithful.
C. Illustration
I had to make apology this week for a situation in which I got angry regarding one of my children.
Actually, I pursued making apology in full consciousness of not defiling the communion I would be taking today.
Our communion at regular times in the church is good in this regard. It keeps us accountable.
Have you heard the expression, "Every man for himself?"
In communion that is both true and untrue.
We are each responsible for ourselves because we are responsible for each other.
We are each responsible to do what we can and must to maintain unity.
If there is someone you must make peace with, you must do it today.
Let us take a moment right now to accomplish this before our holy God.
We must put Christ back into our relationship.
D. Application
II. Cycle Two (vv. 20-22)
A. Narrative
B. Implication
The consideration of humility.
The fellowship of communion that Christ gave us must accentuate the common ground at the foot of the cross upon which all must stand.
2Co 5:14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
2Co 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
a. The manner of a guest.
b. The manner of an intruder.
(1). The intruder should stay in his own home.
(2). The intruder despises God’s home.
The lack of consideration by the wealthy for the less well-to-do implies that they are not celebrating the Lord’s Supper at all, merely “their own supper.”
C. Illustration
In God’s Eyes
Small as a bird, big as the skies,
We’re all the same size in God’s eyes.
Rich as a king, poor as a mite,
We’re all worth the same in God’s eyes.
Red, black, yellow or white ---
We all look the same in God’s eyes.
So maybe the way to make everything right
Is to see everybody through God’s eyes.
D. Application
III. Cycle Three (vv. 23-26)
A. Narrative
B. Implication
The consideration of Christ.
The fellowship of communion that Christ gave us must remind us of what Christ accomplished upon the cross for us.
a. Past sacrifice
1Co 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
b. Present communion
c. Future presence
The abuse of the poor in communion is the abuse of the Lord in communion.
Those who would abuse the poor, or any of God's people, should perhaps ask themselves if they have ever truly received Christ as Lord.
It is him that they abuse.
We should all be reminding ourselves of how desperately poor we all are before him.
I am aware of a recent decision by an important church worker in another church who responded to a missionary speaker’s invitation to salvation.
It was somewhat a shock to others who thought this person was saved, but it should never be judged after the fact.
There should just be praise to God for his grace as it applies.
C. Illustration
Are you aware that you can believe, and even recite something like the doctrinal truth of the Apostles' Creed (# 716) regularly for years and say that you believe the truth about Christ, but not believe it for yourself?
This was my very own situation until I came to the realization that I had no personal relationship with the Savior.
If you would commune with him, you must have that personal relationship – not just believing that he is Lord, but that he is your own personal Savior.
You must believe it for yourself.
D. Application
IV. Cycle Four (v. 26)
A. Narrative
B. Implication
The consideration of witness.
The fellowship of communion that Christ gave us must impress us with the continuing invitation for others to join him at his table.
a. The commemoration of his sacrifice is a continuing invitation (1John 2:2).
b. This continuing invitation is extended through us.
C. Illustration
D. Application
V. Cycle Five (vv. 27-29)
A. Narrative
B. Implication
The consideration of reverence.
The fellowship of communion that Christ gave us must cause us to honor him with our finest attitude of worship (Mt. 22:1-14 clothed with Christ).
a We must be right with God through Christ.
b. We must be right with God’s people.
Paul does not use the adjective “unworthy,” to refer to a person’s character, but instead to highlight the nature of their actions (manner).
Thus his warning was not to those who were leading unworthy lives and longed for forgiveness but to those who were making a mockery of that which should have been most sacred and solemn by their behavior at the meal.
Their “examination” of themselves refers to their behavior towards their fellow Christians - whether it is appropriate - which then qualifies participation for themselves.
C. Illustration
In Daniel 5 we are told of how King Belshazzar of the Babylonians, successor to King Nebuchadnezzar, defiled the sacred objects they had taken from the temple in Jerusalem when the Jews were deported.
He had them brought to him so that he and his concubines might use them in pagan idolatry.
This was something that even his father had never dared to do.
And because of his sin, the judgment of God fell upon him, and he lost the kingdom to the Medes and the Persians that very night.
And so we see that the sacred objects of worship that represent God must not be defiled or taken lightly.
In the OT we are told of the numerous sacrifices that are offered daily at the temple in Jerusalem.
The numbers of animals that are sacrificed must sometimes have numbered in the hundreds.
We have often assumed that these sacrifices were to make the people holy, but there is another way of looking at it.
It may be more accurate to say that the blood that was sprinkled around the temple and the altar were to make the space or area holy – that is, to cleanse it because it was the sanctuary of God that was defiled by sinful human presence.
The temple was the place where God dwelt among his people.
The blood in a sense becomes a ritual detergent employed by the priest to purge the sanctuary of he impurities inflicted upon it by the offerer of the sacrifice.
This gives us a different view of God and may go further to explain the apparent existence of sacrifices in the millennial temple (Ezek. 40:38ff; 43:18ff; 45:13ff).
You see, there will still be sinful, unglorified human flesh on the earth during the millennium.
But until that time, we might say that the presence of these communion elements once a month in our own sanctuary are what cleanses our own holy temple space and allows us to draw near to God in worship.
D. Application
VI. Cycle Six (vv. 30-34)
A. Narrative
B. Implication
The consideration of judgment.
The fellowship of communion that Christ gave us must prompt us to judge ourselves before we come into the presence of the Judge.
a. Self-judgment is prudent (self eliminating - and so for all sin).
b. God’s judgment is stringent.
c. Paul’s judgment is yet incomplete.
The way to avoid tragedy is to monitor one’s own behavior.
It is not that there must be a connection of weakness and sickness to one’s behavior at communion, but that there might be a connection.
How can one be sure of the source of repercussions in life unless he is confident of his stand?
But Paul ends on a somewhat upbeat note by reminding his readers that even those who have died for their actions are not damned.
Rather, God disciplines those whom he loves (Heb. 12:5-11) to protect them from further damaging themselves or others.
It is just that this discipline may be severe because the importance of the Lord’s Supper is severe.
The importance of the Lord’s Supper is severe because the punishment he incurred for us, which this supper commemorates, was severe - because sin is severe.
The main point is this meal is to be shared as a worshipful remembrance for all and not just to satisfy one’s own needs without regard for others or for the Lord.
The Lord’s Supper has been a point of division in the Christian community ever since Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
What God has intended to bring us together in fellowship has driven us apart.
There are views about the changeableness of the elements known as transubstantiation (actually become), consubstantiation (present in), and the reformed view (represent).
The one thing we should be careful of here is that we don’t make communion out to be a means of grace, or a sacrament rather than an ordinance.
Scripture is not clear about the changeableness of the elements, but it is clear that communion is in obedience to Christ (as an ordinance) and is not a sacrament or substitute for the means of grace that he gave once for all upon the cross.
But there is very little in Scripture that insists it must be celebrated a certain way.
There is no restrictions on who can officiate or distribute, no particular words which must be spoken, no particular frequency commanded, no insistence that the bread be unleavened or of one loaf, no theological reason why the wine must be fermented or not, whether it should be part of a full meal or not, no limitations on a particular church, no limitation on age, no link between communion and baptism.
But Paul does set limits on our attitude and behavior.
When churches divide over these practices, it is not usually because of doctrine itself but because of peripheral issues and powerful personalities in each group.
All repentant sinners are welcome, no matter how far away from God they may have recently felt.
All professing believers who are unprepared to give generously of their wealth to help the poor in their midst, or who treat people of lower classes as second-class citizens, or who simply remain unreconciled with fellow Christians, should refrain (Mt. 5:23-24).
Above all, whatever individual introspection is involved should not overwhelm the dominant symbolism of unity.
Paul’s warnings against profaning the Lord’s Supper and incurring God’s judgment are consistently applied to all the wrong situations.
People are made to feel they should abstain if they have not felt close to God recently, or if they have been particularly disobedient, or if they have not achieved a certain level of Christian maturity, no matter how much they are prepared to repent or grow.
Instead we should be cautious against partaking if we are unwilling to be generous in helping the poor in our midst, or if we remain unreconciled with a fellow Christian over some interpersonal dispute or squabble.
At least - Romans 12:18 "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."
C. Illustration
D. Application
Conclusion:
Big Answer:
What considerations should direct our approach to the Lord's Table?
The consideration of unity.
The consideration of humility.
The consideration of Christ.
The consideration of witness.
The consideration of reverence.
The consideration of judgment.
Timeless Truth:
Michael Green gives an excellent sixfold summary of the theology of the Lord’s Supper that Paul stresses in verses 17-34:
Look around (fellowship with each other)
Considerations of unity and humility.
Look backwards and forwards (to Christ’s death and immanent return)
Consideration of Christ.
Look outward (to proclaim God’s Word to others)
Consideration of witness.
Look up (fellowship with God)
Consideration of reverence.
Look in (self examination)
Consideration of judgment.
But the one thing we must see is that through communion, and all it signifies and represents, all things must come together.
Let us not be a hindrance to this great coming together for which Christ died.
Is there some reason which you don’t take communion?
When you don’t take communion you exclude yourself from the communion of the saints and your communion with Christ along with them.
Have you interpreted this passage correctly?
Certainly there are grave warnings and consequences for not heeding them.
But we do not need to remain locked in separation.
The first prerequisite to taking communion is that you personally know the One (Christ) who wants to share it with you.
You understand the symbolism and the meaning and the importance of it.
The second prerequisite is that you are at peace with God and at peace with the other saints with which you share it, not holding yourself to be of greater importance or more privileged.
We come to this great supper of remembrance with a right heart toward God and his children.
After all, we are to love one another (John 13:34-35).
In this, our communion is a witness of his love through us.
If we are afraid of judgment for a wrongful taking of communion, as we should be, let us not continue in refraining from it, but bring ourselves into it, through the forgiveness by which Christ desires to bring us into his communion.
And if we are living in a known sin in defiance of God other than a sin of fellowship (which is not the primary meaning of this passage), we do well not to impose upon his grace by a wrongful taking of communion.
But to stay away from communion by staying in a sin is to bring ourselves into the same judgment as taking the communion in sin (Heb. 6:4-6).
What Christ wants is our communion with him and with each other, and he provides the means for which to do so.
It is called repentance and forgiveness (1John 1:9), with God and also between ourselves.
The idea of this week’s message may well be about the first duty of worship.
Certainly it must be communion with God, which we have through Christ.
If the essence of communion is fellowship, then this is a necessary prerequisite even to be able to praise God acceptably (with reverence and with awe, Heb. 12:28).
The priority of our worship is fellowship.
The most serious sin in worship is to abuse fellowship with God by abusing fellowship with each other.
How will he receive our praise if we have no relationship with him by having no relationship with each other?
And when each one has true communion with Christ, then we have communion with each other and no one will come under condemnation.
God intends for communion to take place whenever we worship together.
It’s just that we formally celebrate it once a month.