Are You Ready to Eat

At the beginning of the chapter Paul commends the church at Corinth because they listened to and were following what Paul had instructed them to do but…

He starts this section off a little differently.

1 Corinthians 11:17–34 CSB

17 Now in giving this instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19 Indeed, it is necessary that there be factions among you, so that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20 When you come together, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. 21 For at the meal, each one eats his own supper. So one person is hungry while another gets drunk! 22 Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you in this matter! 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “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. 27 So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep. 31 If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged, 32 but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world. 33 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, welcome one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather together you will not come under judgment. I will give instructions about the other matters whenever I come.

What is divided needs to be fixed.

Paul acknowledges that there are and will be divisions among the people.

The reasons he knew there would be is deeper than a difference of opinion - Paul is basically saying there are those who are following the Lord and those who aren’t - those who aren’t are making trouble for those who are - as Jesus said:

Luke 6:22 CSB

22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil because of the Son of Man.

Even though we may have issues with each other we need to fix those especially before we the Lord’s Supper - how can we think about Jesus and what He did for us, honor that sacrifice and still harbor ill feelings about another human being that Jesus died for… we can’t even truly worship if we have divisions in the church.

Paul address the common meal or the agape feast as an introduction to the Lord’s supper meal.

The people brought food together for all to share - think potluck. The issue is that not everyone had the same ability or resources to bring so those with more brought more and those with less, less.

The difference in who brought what is not the issue. The issue is that it was not shared equally and those who brought more, took more and separated themselves from the others - cliques. Even worse, their actions were humiliating those with less…

We are to lift others up, not ourselves.

Isn’t this the point of Jesus’ sacrifice? Yes, the purpose was to pay the penalty for our sins and free us from the bondages of said sin but Jesus did this for us not Himself. Jesus’ actions were all about others…

The Lord’s Supper should be taken seriously as the Lord prescribed.

While the Lord’s Supper is symbolic the symbols represent very real and very serious actions taken by the Lord.

The Lord’s Supper was established using elements if the Passover meal.

The bread used would have been unleavened - leaven is symbolic of sin and how it corrupts - of course in the passover meal it was unleavened because of the speed they would flee Egypt (no time to let it rise). The bread would be broken just as the body of Christ was bruised and broken.

We take the bread and eat it as a remembrance of what Jesus did…

The cup containing fruit of the vine is the third cup used in the passover meal, technically after the meal. It is known as the cup of salvation symbolic of the slaying of the passover lamb, God’s promise to redeem Isreal and the price paid for Israel’s redemption from slavery…

Jesus became the passover Lamb thus fulfilling the symbolism of the cup - His blood defeats death not just causes it to pass by - His blood has redeemed all of humanity from sin and slavery.

There is not stipulation as to how often we are to partake of the Lord’s Supper but when we do it should be done in a solemn manner as a remembrance and testimony of what the Lord did - and we don’t stop until Jesus returns.

We need to be concerned with the manner we come to worship and to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Because the passage is addressing the Lord’s Supper we will focus on that but this applies to every aspect of our coming to worship.

We must approach God in a manner worthy - the first way this is accomplished is by taking a good hard look at yourself - yourself… not others, you are not responsible for someone else’s attitude but you are responsible for yours.

We can help others prepare for the meal.

If there is something between you and another person - stop waiting for them to make the move - you go and start building a bridge - make the first step.

Casting Crown has a song about how God demonstrated this called Love Moved First - the chorus says: You didn’t wait for me to find my way to You - I couldn’t cross that distance even if I wanted to - You came running after me - When anybody else would’ve turned and left me at my worst - Love moved first…

Romans 5:8 CSB

8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Paul ends the passage with a hard principle…

If we are here just to satisfy our cravings… stay home.

First of all - don’t get mad at me cause Paul said it.

Second of all - I am not talking about coming to meet our deep spiritual needs nor am I talking about coming to truly honor God and worship Him.

The issue is when we bring all our personal preferences, when we care more about what we get out of it instead of what those who need more are getting.