A Proper Order: A Loving Lord’s Supper

Paul begins in verse 17 with a rebuke. He is disappointed with the actions of some of the Corinthians, and he lets them know very clearly of his disappointment. He tells them in verse 17 that he cannot praise them for these erroneous practices that center around the Lord supper, like he has through the rest of this letter he is being a faithful pastor, correct in the attitude and actions of those whom he ministers to, and he is rooting his argument in the scripture so that their hearts may be properly informed and corrected.

First, we will look at the problem in detail. Second, we will look back upon a proper understanding of the practice of in the meaning of the Lord supper and finally Paul will give a warning about observing the Lord supper in an unworthy way.

1. Rejecting the Lord(17-22)

1 Corinthians 11:17–22 NASB95

17 But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. 20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.

Paul starts off clearly identifying the problem as he has in these previous occurrences. He tells them that as they gather as the church, there are divisions among them. The Greek word, here, SCHISMATA is where we get the word schism, and it typically deals with factions and divisions of disunity in the body in relation to petty differences. We will call the worldly factions.

Worldly Factions

Paul has already mentioned worldly factions at the beginning of this letter as he diagnosed the problem of disunity in Corinth, where groups of people were swearing their allegiance to certain leaders like Paul and Apollos, and in doing so setting these groups against one another. These social factions we’re not creating unity among the body, but instead dividing the body against itself. Now again, we have another situation where Paul uses the same word that is translated faction, but this segregation is built upon Socio economic standards. Based upon Paul’s wording, we can deduce that there were a group of wealthy members of the Corinthian church that had created an elitist attitude and division among the body of Christ. We can see evidence of this in verse 21 and 22 where Paul states that some were being shamed “who have nothing“.

It seems to be clear that the rich and more prominent people of the body of Christ in Corinth felt as if they were privileged in the observance of the Lord supper, and therefore they would abuse that practice by lacking love and care for their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, who were different than them from an economic standpoint. In other words, just like the issue of Christian liberty, they were those who were not displaying Christlike love.

This is why Paul states in verse 20 that when they met together, ‘they were not eating the Lord supper.’They may have been enjoying the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine, which had led some to even get drunk from it, but Paul states that this did not qualify as the Lord supper, because their attitudes in taking those elements opposed the very person and purpose of Christ.

Instead of loving these poor members, and coming to the table in unity and love, which Christ provided in his death upon the cross and resurrection, these rich elitists segregated themselves, and abused the ordinance of the Lord. This is what selfish disunity does to the body when we create divisions among us based upon our differences. This creates disunity because it opposes the very act of unification that Christ brings with his death and resurrection, as he draws all different types of people to himself so that they may become one in the church. This is very much a Satanic attempt of the undoing of what Christ has accomplished at Calvary.

Godly Divisions (19)

Paul makes an interesting aside in verse nineteen, when he states that there are actually good divisions that exist in the church. He states that there must be divisions among you, but he uses a different word than he previously used inverse 18 in verse 19 the divisions are from the Greek word, Heresis which is where we get the word heresy. What Paul seems to be alluding to here is that there are good divisions, godly divisions, when the church, which consists of true believers, actually create a holy separation, from that which is unholy found in the church. When the church experience has godly division, it is typically when a portion of the physical body of that church stands firm up on the truth of God’s word in opposition to those who are ignoring, or opposing the very word of God. The very Reformation of the church would be a great a great example of such a godly division, for the reformers were standing, firm up on the gospel of Jesus Christ, and were willing to separate themselves in order to preserve the purity of the gospel.

Paul says these godly divisions or ways in which we may see and understand those who are “approved by God, which we can interpret as meaning called in the gospel.

Paul uses a powerful word in v 22 that summarizes his rebuke of their actions. He states, “do you despise the church of God” To despise is to hold something or someone in contempt or disregard. It is clear that by abusing the Lord’s Supper like these Corinthians did, they disregarded the church to which Christ was sent to being redemption. This therefore is an act of disregard to the Lord himself.

When we divide and fracture as a church into different camps of particular interests while excluding or disregarding the others from us, then we too are guilty of creating unloving factions in the church.

1 Corinthians 12:24–26 (NASB95)

24 ...But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Spurgeon said:

That old oak in the forest is one of the noblest works of God. Look at it bursting into full leaf, bearing well its verdant honors, and making a picture worthy of the artist’s rarest skill. What are these dry pieces of wood that strew the ground beneath it? What are these large branches that rot under its shade? It is needless to ask, for we all know that they fell from the tree during winter’s storms. Is it a cause of regret for the sake of the tree that those rotten branches were broken off? It may be a lamentation as far as concerns the broken boughs, but the tree itself would have never been so healthy, and never looked so complete if the rotten branches had been suffered to abide. When the hurricane came howling through the woods, the old tree shivered in the gale, and mourned as it heard the cracking of its boughs. Yet now it is thankful because the sound healthy branches with sap and life in them are all there, and the withered ones no longer encumber the trunk.

Application Questions:

Remembering the Lord (23-26)

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NASB95

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

The second section of this passage deals with Paul, taking the Christian church back to the meaning and purpose of the Lord supper. This is a familiar passage to us, as we read it almost every observance of the Lord supper in our church because it encapsulates the Lord supper text from the gospels clearly. Paul is reflecting back on what the Lord Jesus said, during the Passover, in instituting the Lord supper for the new covenant people. In remembering the Lord in this moment, Paul is reminding them of the meaning of the Lord supper, a meaning that they clearly have forgotten in their lack of love and unity with one another. It is hard to know for sure if Paul actually received direct communication from the Lord Jesus about the Lord supper, or if he received the tradition that have been passed down by the apostles. Either way, whether directly or indirectly, Paul is taking the Corinthian church back to remember what Jesus had instituted and why.

Remembering the Lord in the lord supper means that we are celebrating the theological and practical significance of this ordinance of the church. We are not just remembering an event, but we are relishing in and celebrating the way such a spiritual event in history has changed our lives for the better. Think of the Lord’s Supper remembrance as both past present and future.

In the past, the church should remember the story of the Exodus and the salvation that the Lord provided through Moses. Jesus connects this OT story when he institutes the Lord’s Supper during the passover. God’s power was on display to provide escape for Israel from His wrath against the sin and rebellion of the Egyptians. Through the shed blood of the lamb that was spread on the door post of teh Israelites by faith, the Israelites escape the wrath of God.

So the blood of Christ which was shed in the death of Christ on the cross, signifies the way that His people escape from wrath occurs in the life of the believer. Blood signifies the life of a creature and the blood of Christ was shed so that one life was given as atonement for guilt and shame. Atonement accomplishes the appeasing of wrath just like cold water poured on a fire quenches the heat and rage of the flames. Jesus’s shed his blood to appease God’s wrath against sinners.

With that appeasing of the wrath of God, peace is ushered in. The blood does not just stop God’s anger against sin, but it also provides forgiveness and peace with our enemy. This is about relationship and intimacy with our King who we were at once at odds with.

Thirdly, the blood is used in the bible to ratify an agreement between God and man. When God covenanted with Abraham, he had abraham slaughter animals by cutting them in half. Then the Lord appeared in a theophany in the form of a smoking pot and flaming torch (fire and smoke) and he passed through these bloody carcasses to signify faithfulness to promises made to Abram.

Christ’s blood was shed to ratify the new covenant this new covenant was given in Jeremiah 31:31-34

Jeremiah 31:31–34 NASB95

31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Christ ratified these promises with not the blood of animals but with his own blood. This is a present and future promise for that new covenant has come with Christ and will lead us to the time with He comes again. Paul reflects on this significance in v 26

1 Corinthians 11:26 NASB95

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

Also, the bread that we partake together has great significance. We remember the Lord as we remember his broken body that is represented symbolically in the bread that we eat. That broken bread was divided up from one loaf and dispersed to those disciples at the Passover meal. The one loaf that became mini pieces is intentional and practical. It teaches us about unity in the church and how we partake of our individual pieces that came from one loaf. Paul pointed us to that in chapter 10 verse 17

1 Corinthians 10:17 NASB95

17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.

Jesus stated in his earthly ministry, that he was the bread of life as he referenced the way in which Israel received daily bread from the Lord in the form of manna. This heavenly substance that they used to make bread was a beautiful picture that the Lord Jesus used to teach the people that he is the spiritual sustenance that we need. In other words, we find life in him and him alone.

Therefore, when we consider the broken bread of the Lord supper we remember that for for Jesus, to truly provide spiritual provision, in nourishment for us, he had to willingly go to the cross. He had to suffer and die, and stand in our place, as the God-man. Thus the bread represents his body which provided the needed sacrifice and it also highlights that the body of Christ, which was the sufficient sacrifice for sin.

Because Jesus stood in our place, we reap the blessings of redemption now and into all eternity so that the bread and wine speaks to us as a past, present and future reality of of the work of Christ on the cross.

All of the works of redemption was completed for the glory of Father and for the blessings of God’s people. It was an act of love that Jesus Christ was sent

john 3:16

John 3:16 NASB95

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Therefore, when we observe the Lord’s supper, we must do so in a practice of holiness and love. The Corinthians had left out love and therefore had detached from the significance of the practice in the church.

You and I then must consider if we are displaying love as followers of Christ? Are we seeking unity in the body of Christ or are we setting up divisiveness and unloving segregation. Are you seeking unity and peace with others just as Christ accomplished when he came to redeem sinners back to God. The church has tasted peace with God and therefore out of love, we too must seek peace, forgiveness and love with our neighbors.

This is what we proclaim when we take the Lord’s Supper

Receiving the Lord’s Judgment (27-34)

1 Corinthians 11:27–34 NASB95

27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.

After Paul rebukes the Corinthians for their unloving and unnecessary prejudice against their brothers and sisters in Christ, he identifies for them the judgment they have received from the Lord. We know from Scripture that the Lord disciplines those he loves and this case in Corinth is no exception. Paul uses the word “judge” or “Judgment” eight times in these verses. He is not referring to eternal judgment because he is dealing with believers in Christ. He is talking about temporal judgment from the Father to His children.

It is an act of love for the Father to discipline the church when it lives in unholiness.

Proverbs 3:11–12 NASB95

11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord Or loathe His reproof, 12 For whom the Lord loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

The Corinthians were experiencing this judgment from God in the form of sickness and death. This is probably a cumulative judgment on all the sins present in the church of Corinth. We must not forget that Corinth had others factions and as well as allowed members to live in blatant sexual sin. God does not allow such sin to run rampant among God’s people. The result was that believers in the church were dying. Paul uses the phrase “falling asleep” as a metaphor for the death of the believer just as he does in his other letters.

Some may ask why such a severe punishment from the Lord. Because God desires his people to strive for holiness and sometimes God must wake up the church to realize that sin is rejection of the Lord and shaming the church. God has to teach the church a healthy lesson and he allows sickness and even death to come to lead the church to fear God and live in holiness.

We all know the story of Ananias and Sapphira who lied about their gifts to the church. The Lord sent the apostles to investigate and after failing to be honest, they Lord took this husband and wife in death. Listen to the result of such an event:

Acts 5:11 NASB95

11 And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.

Paul’s instruction for Corinth is to understand that God will discipline his children when they fall into sin and the church needs an elevated awareness to such discipline. If things do not seem to be going right and well in your life as a believer, perhaps you should do as Paul instructs the Corinthians : examine yourself. Three times Paul references a careful examination of the spiritual life of the believer. It is an inward investigation of your own heart. Paul says “judge yourselves rightly” which is saying the same thing. This is where the conscience comes into play as we discussed a few weeks ago. The conscience is the lead investigator in conjunction with the Holy Spirit’s work within us to see if we are living as the Lord calls us to live. Corinthian believers were not and God was judging them for it.

Examining yourself requires a heart of humility....one that seeks to truly understand the underlying sin that have exist there. Examination leads to confession. Confession is admitting that which we have done in God’s eyes dishonor him. Examination leads to Confession which leads to Hope. Hope is knowing that in the gospel of Jesus Christ, He has already paid the penalty and wages for sin upon the cross.

This is what you are called today as we observe the Lord’s Supper.